A truly comprehensive breakdown ahead of the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025.
Did you know that there’s a Women’s Rugby World Cup kicking off this weekend? No? All good let me get you up to speed so you know what to watch and what to cheer for over the next six weeks.
Firstly, the tournament is being played in England. This is the first time a country has hosted for a second time (it first played host in 2010) and means we have a direct point of comparison by which to measure the growth of the women’s game.
In 2010, the final was played at Twickenham’s Stoop in front of a crowd of just over 13,000, with the total attendance of the tournament being just 30,000. Fast forward to 2025 and more than 375,000 tickets have been pre-sold, including selling out the 82,000 seats at Twickenham for the final. Despite fans not yet knowing who will be there.
England time zones mean it’s time to update the old script about getting up in the middle of the night to have a milo and watch the All Blacks with a caregiver. Now you will be setting your alarms for our Black Ferns as they chase their seventh(!) World Cup title.
The Black Ferns are world champions in 2022 (Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty)
Alarms to set
GAME 1
Alarm set: 4.30am, Monday August 25
Black Ferns vs Spain, York Community Stadium. Live on Sky Sport
Spain might not be a country you associate with rugby but they have a proud history in the women’s game. Featuring in the women’s Six Nations until 2006 when they were replaced by Italy to mirror the men’s tournament.
GAME 2
Alarm set: 1.00am, Monday September 1
Black Ferns vs Japan, Sandy Park. Live on Sky Sport.
Japan and New Zealand’s history goes all the way back to the beginning. A Japanese team from Tokyo travelled to Christchurch in 1990 to take part in RugbyFest, which was a precursor to the first World Cup in 1991.
GAME 3
Alarm set: 1.45am, Monday September 8
Black Ferns vs Ireland, Brighton & Hove Albion Stadium. Live on Sky Sport.
Black Ferns will be out for revenge after their loss to Ireland in last year’s WXV and the pool play of the 2014 World Cup which knocked us out of the tournament.
Play beyond round three depends on how we and other teams finish. Here’s the possible pathways for the Black Ferns to the final.
If we make it to the big dance, the most important alarm to set is…
The World Cup Final
Alarm set: 4.00am, Sunday September 28
Black Ferns vs ???
Twickenham. Live on Sky Sport.
What you need to know based on how invested you’ve been since the last World Cup.
Rookie
Most of your favs from last time are going to be there with the exception of Ruby Tui. I know that might be a big surprise but the thing is, winger is a really hard position to hold on to in New Zealand rugby. We just seem to have an unending pipeline of talent.
Since the last World Cup, Black Ferns wingers have mainly been Ayesha Leti-I’iga (the player that came on and scored when Portia was knocked out in the final) and Katelyn Vahaakolo (who has scored as many tries as she has tattoos aka LOTS and was a key part of the Blues’ back-to-back championships). That is, until Portia Woodman-Wickliffe came out of retirement, which was a big huge deal and we are all very happy about it.
Tui will still be at the World Cup, joining the commentary team for the BBC which is a perfect role for her, and she’ll also be part of the Sky commentary team for the first two Black Ferns tests.
Outside of that, you are going to LOVE Jorja Miller. If you don’t already know her from her star performance in last year’s Olympic Sevens team, she is ready to introduce herself. She plays flanker but not how anyone else does; running with a freedom that will inspire imitations in the backyard for years to come.
Jorja Miller against Australia in July 2025 in Wellington (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
Many more countries have improved their programmes since the last World Cup. A new global tournament was invented meaning heaps more games have been played. As a result, everyone is better and so from quarterfinals on, honestly any team could win the tournament.
Still, we probably want to cheer for the Black Ferns to top the pools, win their quarterfinal and play Canada in the semi-final to get a crack at the trophy. Canada is formidable but a bit more familiar as we play them more often. Whereas England is just as scary as last time and now has a home crowd advantage. They have only lost one game in their last 63 matches – the last World Cup final.
Intermediate
The professionalism of the Black Ferns has kicked in properly this cycle. With the base rates of their contracts being bumped up in 2023 and the number of contracts on offer rising since then. The impact of this investment is seen most directly in the administration of the team. It’s been a much more stable environment leading into this World Cup and perhaps is the first time we’ve seen the proper use of the cycle to develop our team.
We had the environmental review and last minute recruitment of Sir Wayne Smith that overshadowed much of the lead up into the last World Cup. This obscured the fact that we were burning through talent at an unsustainable rate. A scattergun approach to selections saw us debuting 49 players between the 2017 and 2022 World Cups. That included 12 in the World Cup year.
This left us with a lot of green on the grass. A massive 69% of the team were playing in their first World Cup in 2022, with the majority having played fewer than 10 matches in black. Just two players had played more than 30. This inexperience was most pronounced in our front row, with only one of our props having played more than eight tests.
Katelyn Vahaakolo sings with students during the Black Ferns Rugby World Cup farewell at School hall of Manurewa Intermediate School (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)
We come into 2025 much more prepared. More than half (53%) of the squad featured in the last World Cup and the majority of the team has played more than 20 tests. Six players now have played 30 or more, including two front rowers.
Those that are less experienced come to this team having walked a longer road of development opportunities than their predecessors. Laura Bayfield is a perfect example – new to this side but a familiar face in the Black Ferns XV. It’s easy to forget that Aupiki is only three years old. While there’s still much to be improved about this flagship competition, you’re still seeing a return on the initial investment.
So the top of New Zealand women’s rugby has vastly improved. The team we have named is a beautiful balance of experienced and emerging talent. Kelly Brazier’s final World Cup will be back where she started. The baby of 2022, Logo-I-Pulotu Lemapu-Atai’i Sylvia Brunt will come of age at this tournament. Kaipo Olsen-Baker makes the World Cup debut her broken leg denied her last time and Veisinia Mahutariki-Fakalelu is ready to be our latest prop with unrivalled ball skills.
Pro
The biggest thing to happen to women’s rugby globally since the World Cup was the introduction of the WXV. It is a competition with three divisions, essentially designed to offer more stability into the women’s international calendar. Teams play regional competitions, like the Six Nations, Pacific Four Series or Oceania Cup in the first half the year and their results then sort them into their respective divisions.
This competition meant more games were played and as a result, unions have had to up their investments into women’s rugby. Everyone has gotten more serious about professionalism and pathways in an attempt to close both the pay and play gap. Alongside England’s PWR and Aotearoa’s Aupiki, Australia has been growing its Super W competition and USA has launched a new domestic league, the WER. In a shocking turn of events nobody could have possibly seen coming, women’s rugby has improved.
New Zealand and Canada take to the field in the Pacific Four Series in Christchurch earlier this year (Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)
Canada and South Africa are two countries that are developing faster than most thanks to these changes. What’s fascinating is how different they have been in their approach. The men’s rugby giant, South Africa, has appeared to finally wake up to how good their women could be. While Canada has been frank about their position in their country as a minority sport.
South Africa now has a more legitimate women’s programme. It took the opportunity to host the second division of WXV twice to introduce the women’s game to prospective audiences and players alike. They have had a proper lead into this World Cup, securing matches against Canada and the Black Ferns XV. They have a very real chance of making it out of the pools for the first time.
Canada has bucked the international trend and kept their team amateur. There are no retaining rates, instead assembly fees and per diems for those in camp and on tour. They are also freely using England’s PWR as a step on their high performance ladder, with over half of their World Cup squad currently playing in the English premier league. They also pool their talent. Canadian players may run out for the sevens or fifteens, depending on coaches’ choice. They are publicly fundraising a million dollars to try and win this World Cup.
Canada is a model worth watching as it’s a true example of how women’s rugby can stand on its own two feet. Unlike other nations at the top of the rankings, they do not have a strong men’s side with an established infrastructure to lean on. They are a genuine contender to win this World Cup and if they do, we all need to take lessons from their example.
We watch World Cups to see our teams succeed. The Black Ferns may need to best both South Africa and Canada if they are to once again lift the trophy. But for die-hards of the women’s game, it’s all of these storylines of growth from around the world that are worth cheering for.