We’ve brought the curtain down on the pool stages and from now on it’s a simple case of winner stays on. That also means we have to say goodbye to teams who have lit up the first three weeks of Rugby World Cup 2025.

Good news though; USA, Italy, and Fiji are all represented in this team of the week even if their Rugby World Cups have run their course. From next week, the job of selecting the best possible XV for your fantasy team has just got harder.

Props

American Hope Rogers (57pts) ends her Rugby World Cup with her best performance of the tournament. She scored two tries in the first half hour and joins Keia Mae Sagapolu in the top four props of the pool stage having amassed 112pts overall – England’s Kelsey Clifford leads that competition with 122pts. Her four defenders beaten led all props this round and her 114m carried is second highest in the tournament for her position, she also has the third highest total (85m in round two).

Sara Seye (48pts) becomes just the second Italian to make the dream team after hooker Vittoria Vecchini in round two. Seye had a 100% tackle success rate from 12 tackles and carried the ball five times in a busy first half.

Hooker

We will be seeing more of Emily Tuttosi (81pts) during this tournament and she is really hitting her straps now. The 81pts she accrued are the most by a hooker in this World Cup to date. She scored two tries, one either side of the half, plus 14 carries were the most by a hooker in any round. Not content just to carry Canada to victory, she made 14 tackles, 9th most for the tournament.

Second-row

Sophie de Goede (65pts) is the only player to appear in every single fantasy team of the week. Her 193 combined points place her 6th overall and top of the forwards. In round three she once again used her boot to good effect with 6pts but it was her carrying that took her to the top of the charts. Her 19 carries were top for any position in the round and third best overall – she herself is top with the 20 carries she made in round two.

Understandably her popularity in the game has grown with 46% of you picking her in round one rising to 64% in round three. Abbie Ward (61pts) the English second-row makes her first appearance on the list with an 80-minute try-scoring performance against Australia, a match England needed to win to top their pool. She operated as the perfect link making ten passes, the most by an England forward this tournament, and was perfect with 19 from 19 tackles made – the second most behind teammate Morwenna Tarling’s frankly ridiculous 27 without a miss against the USA in round one.

Loose Forwards

Only Jorja Miller in round two has topped the points total of Freda Tafuna (113pts) among forwards. In round three, the American back-rower roared to four tries which places her just behind the six-try haul of Julia Schell in round one. Her 192m carried were second to only Italian full-back Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi – more on her later.

Just 0.1% of you picked Italian Isabella Locatelli (93pts) so high-fives to everyone who backed her. Locatelli made her first appearance of the tournament and her three linebreaks led forwards. She also made four offloads which trails only de Goede’s total for the last weekend.

Sadia Kabeya (62pts) made the team in the first round, took the second round match-up against Samoa off, and is now back. She bagged two tries and made 18 of 19 tackles and was the difference-maker as England roared into the knockouts with a 100 per cent record.

Scrum-Half

Nadine Roos (70pts) will end the pool stage with three of top ten performances by a scrum-half and two of the top two. The South Africa got another try against France in round three and enters the knockouts as the form number nine.

Fly-Half

Scottish fly-half Helen Nelson (47pts) has never dropped below 40pts as she has guided her side to a grudge match quarter-final against England next week. Nelson has assisted two tries and her 69 passes trail only US fly-half McKenzie Hawkins for the pool stages. Her 23 completed tackles are also the third most among fly-halves.

Centres

Josifini Neihamu (103pts) is the first Fijian representative and she storms in with the second highest score for a centre. In her match against Wales she scored two tries and made 11 dominant carries from 13 in total. The ten defenders she beat were the fourth highest in any match this tournament.

Gaby Vernier (96pts) scored her first try of the tournament and made three clean breaks and seven defenders beaten, both personal highs. The Frenchwoman’s two try assist passes were the fourth most in a match.

Outside Backs

Braxton Sorensen-McGee (114pts) is the first player to top 100pts in back-to-back matches. That has taken her to 285pts for the pool stage, 21pts higher than second placed Jorja Miller. Sorensen-McGee has scored hat-tricks in the last two matches and her five line breaks in round three are the third highest in the tournament.

Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi (104pts) scored a hattrick against Brazil and ends the pool stage with a team leading four tries. The Italian’s 225m carried was the second highest total in a match for the tournament.

Francesca McGhie (68pts) has scored a try in every match she’s played at this tournament, including a hattrick in round one. The Scotland winger becomes one of five players to have scored six tries in the pool stages and her 440m carried is the most of anyone.