After consecutive final defeats in 2017 and 2022, England have finally claimed a third Women’s Rugby World Cup title in front of the biggest crowd ever in women’s rugby. Beating Canada 33–13 at Twickenham, England completed their dominance of the sport.
This was not a heroic underdog story. England have been utterly dominant over the last three years:they have not lost a game since that 2022 World Cup final, they have more female players than anyone else in the world, and they also have the only professional women’s league that has completed a full season. They had won every single game by multiple tries – their narrowest margin was an 18-point trouncing of France in the semi-final. And though all of that was true last time round – including having not lost a game since the previous World Cup final – the odds this time were definitely stacked in England’s favour.
England have put together a brilliant team over the course of the last three years. Captained by Zoe Aldcroft and coached by John Mitchell, England built the best side in rugby around a core of an excellent kicking game and a powerful pack, complemented by a talented range of options in the backs. Although a few teams have run them close – including Canada last year – Mitchell still hasn’t lost a game as England manager. Not only that, but this is an England team that has managed this unbeaten run without necessarily being the most tactically innovative or subversive side in the game. They are, at a basic level, Better At Rugby than everyone else. On home soil, and in electric form, this was England’s game to lose.
Despite all of that, it was the Canadians that struck first, when Asia Hogan-Rochester touched down in the 5th minute after a chaotic, fast–paced counter–attack. Kevin Rouet’s side have played with extraordinary pace in this tournament, and England initially looked to be floundering in the face of a team that had dismantled New Zealand in the semi-final with the fastest ruck speed of any World Cup side, male or female – a frightening 2.45 seconds per ruck. But although the Red Roses appeared briefly to be on the ropes, this would prove to be the high-water mark for the Canadians. Only a few minutes after Canada had taken the lead, they lost it again as Ellie Kildunne danced her way through the Canadian defensive line, skirting past five Canadian defenders before tearing away to score under the posts in a genuinely staggering solo try. Particularly, however, England dominated up front. The current England pack is both metaphorically and literally immense, and they made their dominance count.
England picked up one try directly from a mall, another from a scrum, and two more from close-range pick and gos. On multiple occasions when faced with the England pack’s drive, the Canadian scrum simply folded – literally. England made their physicality apparent in other ways too, most importantly in shutting down Canada’s record–breaking ruck speed. Rather than focus on slowing down the ruck, to which Canada have remained broadly impervious throughout the tournament, England instead slowed down the tackle, regularly bringing their opposition to the ground both powerfully and painfully slowly. In doing so, they thus sidestepped Canada’s most potent attacking weapon and were able to make their physical mark on the match.
In the kicking game, England again took the upper hand. Canada’s back three had looked wobbly under the high ball all tournament and England shifted their tactics to target that, kicking a veritable barrage of bombs and spiral kicks that often left Canada out of position and let the Red Roses put pressure on Canada in spite of having less territory and less possession than the North Americans. England’s backs, whilst mostly on the backburner, also contributed in their own way, putting in an excellent defensive performance to smother Canada’s attacking output. England had brought an all-court game to Twickenham, and used it to crush their opposition under heel.
Canada, for their part, looked to run the ball, offload, and play at pace – tactics that had worked against the Black Ferns the previous weekend but that, when up against the might of this England side, seemed completely impotent. By the time Asia Hogan-Rochester went over for her second try in the 53rd minute, it already felt more like a consolation than a fightback, and though the Canadians never looked to have given up, they also never really looked like threatening the Red Roses’ lead. For Kevin Rouet and his side, it will certainly have been a disappointing performance, but it is also a marker simply of how vast the gulf is between England and any of their rivals at the moment.
The tournament also served as a marker of how far women’s rugby has come as a whole in the past couple of decades. When the Women’s Rugby World Cup was last in England, in 2010, around 30,000 people attended across 30 games. This time round, more than 42,000 people packed into the Stadium of Light for the opener alone. The total attendance for the tournament was more than 440,000 – three times what it was just three years ago. The final, played in front of a sold-out Twickenham, had more people attend than all but one men’s World Cup final. Women’s rugby has come an extraordinarily long way in the last 15 years. More women are playing the game than ever, and more people are watching. The prospects for the 2029 World Cup – to be held in Australia – look more exciting than ever. That is, as long as someone can figure out how to beat the Red Roses in the meantime.
