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England will host France and New Zealand this autumn in the build-up to their second WXV 1 tournament.
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John Mitchell’s Red Roses, who secured a sixth successive Women’s Six Nations trophy last weekend, will first take on France at Gloucester’s Kingsholm Stadium on September 7 before welcoming the Black Ferns to Twickenham a week later.
England beat New Zealand to win the inaugural WXV 1 title in Auckland last November and will look to defend their title in the second edition, which takes place in Canada between September 27 and October 13.
“We want to host and play against the best sides in the world ahead of the 2025 Rugby World Cup, so these are two fixtures we are eagerly anticipating,” captain Marlie Packer said.
“Fans always bring the noise for games at Kingsholm and with many of our squad having connections to Gloucester, it should be another brilliant occasion.
“Our last two games at Twickenham have resulted in the best two crowds ever recorded in women’s rugby. We want more! Playing the Black Ferns at the home of English Rugby is an unbelievable opportunity that doesn’t come around all too often. We can’t wait for thousands of our supporters to get behind us on another special day at Twickenham.”
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Black Ferns Director of Rugby, Allan Bunting, said: “It is an awesome opportunity for our w?hine to be playing England at a packed-out Twickenham Stadium. To see the fans filling the stands during the Women’s Six Nations has been outstanding and we are hoping to see the same when we take on England’s Red Roses.”
I’m looking forward to attending the Twickenham match, I don’t think it will have a bearing on the outcome of the grand prize itself but it will tell us more about each teams’ preparation and game plan. It’s hard to look past one of the big four (I’m including Canada) lifting the trophy in 2025 but sport is a curious thing, there will still be twists and turns in road ahead.
No doubt this will be a fantastic occasion and I plan to be there, but I think the bean counters have won out over the rugby brains. In my opinion, it is foolhardy to give the Black Ferns the experience of playing in front of 60,000+ at Twickenham a year before they might be playing there in a World Cup Final. Better to play France at Twickenham and Black Ferns at Kingsholm. The difference in takings would be miniscule.