Over the past three weekends 48 of the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup’s 56 matches have taken place.
This weekend in Bristol and Exeter, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, Australia, France, Ireland, England and Scotland remain in the hunt to lift the World Cup trophy at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday 27th September.
With each passing weekend a new star has emerged for each nation, leaving their mark on the competition and establishing themselves as a name to look out for in the years to come.
Top 50 Women’s Rugby Players – montage
We’ve picked the world’s Top 50 women’s rugby players for 2025! View the list now
Top 50 Women’s Rugby Players – montage
We’ve picked the world’s Top 50 women’s rugby players for 2025! View the list now
With the knockout rounds quickly approaching and places in the semi-finals up for grabs RugbyPass has picked out their top five performers from the pool stages.
Braxton Sorensen-McGee (New Zealand)
Prodigy. Sensation. Marvel. Wunderkind. Braxton Sorensen-McGee can be described as all these things and more.
Already at this World Cup the 18-year-old has stunned the world with her six tries – consecutive hat-tricks against Japan and Ireland – for the Black Ferns and has entered the quarter-finals as the competition’s leading points scorer thanks to a quartet of conversions against Japan.
Sorensen-McGee has been a highly rated talent for much of her teenage years. In 2023 she made her Auckland Storm debut and at the end of 2024 turned down a contract in the Telstra NRL Women’s Premiership to pursue rugby union.
A breakout Super Rugby Aupiki season with the Blues later and she was handed her Test debut in May against the Wallaroos where she scored two tries.
In some ways it is hard to define exactly what has contributed to the teenager’s breakout in the pool stages. Years of playing at full-back have given Sorensen-McGee an unerring ability to read play and puts her in the right place at the right time. She has also assisted three tries, made 423 metres and 11 line breaks at this World Cup.
Now established as one of the top talents, and still with the potential for growth, it is hard not to be interested in what will come next for Sorensen-McGee in the knockout stages.
Aseza Hele (South Africa)
It is no understatement to say that Aseza Hele has been the Springbok Women’s most important player in pool play. Coming into the World Cup, Hele described herself as a “sweetheart” off the pitch and a “monster” on it. The 30-year-old has lived up to that billing.
As Swys de Bruin’s side punched their tickets to a World Cup quarter-finals for the very first time, the 30-year-old back-row’s lung-busting carries and ability to batter opponents into submission with sheer physicality has been unmatched.
Hele announced herself at this tournament with a hat-trick against Brazil in Northampton and also dotted down in the opening exchanges of her team’s 29-24 victory over the Italians a week later which confirmed their spot in the last eight.
Across the group stages Hele made 25 carries, racked up 161 metres, 99 of which were post-contact and even beat 11 defenders in the process. You then throw in defensive stability and astuteness; there is little wondering why her teammates look to her so regularly.
On top of her playing ability Hele is the heartbeat of her team. From choreographing try celebrations to acknowledging her teammates’ achievements, Hele is a clear crowd favourite, there is nothing not to like about the South African.
Francesca McGhie (Scotland)
As a 20-year-old Francesca McGhie was touted as a player to look out for when she was nominated for the World Rugby Women’s 15s Breakthrough Player of the year Award. Now she is living up to that expectation.
In pool games against Wales, Fiji and Canada the wing has dotted down six times to send Scotland through to the quarter-final stage of the World Cup for the first time since 2002.
Her hat-trick against Wales on the opening weekend underlined how dangerous McGhie can be.
Attack 
344m
Post Contact Metres
213m
Virtually every time the Scottish back-line worked the ball out wide to the 23-year-old she beat her opposite number and danced her way to the whitewash.
Over the next fortnight the winger made 10 line breaks, beat 19 defenders and made a tournament-high 440 metres with the ball.
It is almost astonishing to think that McGhie only took up rugby in 2018 after spending her youth pursuing ballet and contemporary dance, which earned her a place at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
What head coach Bryan Easson has in McGhie is a game-changer. In many ways she completes a backline already blessed with the talents of Helen Nelson, Lisa Thomson, Emma Orr and Rhona Lloyd.
Sophie de Goede (Canada)
Since Sophie de Goede’s return from a year-long layoff with an ACL injury the Canada standout has certainly been making up for lost time.
Three outings at lock in the World Cup group stages have allowed her to recapture her best form. Her 31 points in the tournament to date have allowed de Goede to become Canada’s all-time leading points scorer, but it has been her all round game which has put her among the competition’s leading players.
Across 211 minutes on the pitch the Saracens forward has completed a competition high 53 carries, made 165 metres (84 metres post contact) in the process, had three try assists, taken 19 lineout throws and won three turnovers.
This flurry of excellent performances has allowed de Goede to step back into the upper echelons of the sport.
What has perhaps aided the 26-year-old’s return was the subdued nature of it. De Goede had missed a large chunk of Canada’s charge to second in the World Rugby rankings and the side had performed well without her.
Throughout WXV 1 and the most recent edition of the Pacific Four Series the Canadians remained competitive, and when de Goede did finally get back onto the field it was far from prying eyes in a two-match Test series against South Africa.
But just as much as Canada maintained pace without de Goede, should the North Americans achieve their long-held ambition of winning the World Cup this month, she may just hold the key to success.
Meg Jones (England)
Meg Jones has been one of the few England players to start in all three of the Red Roses’ group games so far at the World Cup.
Against the USA Women’s Eagles in Sunderland, she enjoyed one of her best performances in an England shirt to date, and backed up that outing with two more leading displays against Samoa and Australia as John Mitchell’s side topped Pool A.
There is no specific thing that Jones has excelled in across her 223 minutes on the pitch. She has done everything well.
In over 20 carries Jones has made 138 metres – 87 of those metres coming post-contact, scored two tries, completed 83 per cent of her tackles at outside centre and linked up play as a secondary play maker in the backline.
Coming into the tournament it was clear that Jones was in good form. She was named Premiership Women’s Rugby Player of the Season for her exploits with a Leicester Tigers team that finished eighth in the competition and signed for Trailfinders Women ahead of the 2025/26 season.
That reliability and ability to keep her side moving forward could prove to be key for the Red Roses as they aim to end their 11-year World Cup drought.
Honourable mentions: Caitlyn Halse, Piper Duck (both Australia), Freda Tafuna, Erica Jarrell-Searcy (both USA), Evie Gallagher (Scotland), Nadine Roos (South Africa), Lina Queyroi (France) and Renee Holmes (New Zealand)