{"id":94287,"date":"2025-08-26T16:06:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T16:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/94287\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T16:06:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T16:06:07","slug":"analysing-the-early-form-of-three-womens-rugby-world-cup-favourites-womens-rugby-world-cup-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/94287\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysing the early form of three Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup favourites | Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

The three main contenders to win the trophy at Twickenham next month came through their opening group matches at the Rugby World Cup with dominant scorelines but far from perfect performances. England, the hosts, thrashed USA 69-7<\/a>, Canada overcame Fiji 65-7<\/a> and New Zealand beat a resolute and determined Spain 54-8<\/a>. Have any of them emerged as clear favourites? Let\u2019s take a look at each performance.<\/p>\n

The Red Roses admitted they had room for improvement with two particular areas letting them down: restarts and handling errors. When the England head coach, John Mitchell, was asked about the restarts he said: \u201cThere is always something to work on, this game is never finite. We will move that into the next preparation. It\u2019s good that we\u2019ve got something to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were many things that went right for England, with the scrum a particular highlight. The props Maud Muir and Hannah Botterman had standout games and the player of the match, Ellie\u00a0Kildunne, was superb again, a touch off her knee in the buildup to one of England\u2019s 11 tries displayed her growing skill set. So while it was a little bit of a rusty start, the Red Roses have the makings of a team who can grow through this tournament.<\/p>\n

It was a similar story for the defending champions, New\u00a0Zealand, but with a key difference in that Spain gave them a lot of headaches<\/a>. Their defence was excellent at times, giving the Black Ferns little space, though as soon as they were given an inch, they took a mile \u2013 particularly\u00a0through Jorja Miller, who is one to\u00a0watch.<\/p>\n

One of the main takeaways from New Zealand\u2019s performance was their adaptability. After being blighted with injuries, they finished with 13 players and while they did concede a try in that time, remained resolute in defence. There is positive news on the injuries. The back-row Kaipo Olsen-Baker, who missed the last tournament with injury, had to be helped off with an ankle problem but scans revealed no fracture. Olsen-Baker is awaiting further assessment on when she can return. The wing Ayesha Leti\u2011I\u2019iga also came off with an ankle injury and the centre Amy du\u00a0Plessis sustained a shoulder issue. Both are also being assessed but all three are travelling with the Black Ferns squad to Exeter for their next match against Japan.<\/p>\n

The injuries were not the only frustrating part of New Zealand\u2019s day. Handling errors disrupted their flow and in the early stages it felt like they were forcing passes rather than being patient. Those errors should be easily fixed.<\/p>\n

A positive for the Black Ferns was their goal-kicking. The full-back Renee Holmes kicked seven of eight conversions and while England and Canada\u2019s lead kickers Zoe Harrison and Sophie de Goede were both good from the tee, Holmes looked the most\u00a0confident.<\/p>\n

Renee Holmes of New Zealand impressed with her goal-kicking in the win against Spain. Photograph: Adrian Dennis\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

An interesting element to Canada\u2019s game came with kicking in open play. They leaned into their kicking game more than England and New Zealand. After a few phases if their attack was not progressing, they put boot to ball with a total of 24 kicks from hand. The Red Roses, meanwhile, made 15 kicks from hand and New Zealand 13. Canada\u2019s handling errors were also an issue but did not impact the outcome, mainly thanks to their electric full\u2011back Julia Schell. Coming into the tournament she had three international tries and tripled that with six in just over 20\u00a0second\u2011half minutes.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s head coach, K\u00e9vin Rouet, was pleased his team have improved their strength in depth. \u201cI am very happy,\u201d he said. \u201cThe idea was to have 23 players coming on to the pitch and playing this game and I think we achieved that. We have a very strong bench and they bring a lot of energy. We know if we want to win the World Cup we can\u2019t make the same mistake as we did three years ago, we need depth and everybody involved in the project which is very important for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

France may not be the main contenders for the trophy but they have a chance and they began with a 24-0 victory against Italy. Les Bleues did not produce their usual flair but they do have star scrum-half Pauline Bourdon Sansus to welcome back after her ban. It will be interesting to see how they go, with their form perhaps the most unpredictable in the tournament.<\/p>\n

England remain firm favourites thanks to their 28-match winning run and the fact they are hosts, but the main contenders look on par with each other, which can only make the tournament all the\u00a0more exciting.<\/p>\n

This is an extract taken from our weekly rugby union email, the Breakdown. To sign up, just visit this page<\/a> and follow the instructions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The three main contenders to win the trophy at Twickenham next month came through their opening group matches…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-94287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}