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England to host women's Rugby World Cup in 2025

By PA
Zoe Aldcroft of England celebrates after scoring a try with team mates during the Autumn International match between England and USA at Sixways Stadium on November 21, 2021 in Worcester, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images )

England have been confirmed as hosts for the 2025 women’s World Cup as World Rugby mapped out all destination countries for its global events until 2033.

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Australia is to stage the 2027 men’s competition as well as the 2029 women’s event, it was agreed at a council meeting in Dublin on Thursday morning.

And in a first for the sport, the United States has been approved for the 2031 men’s and 2033 women’s tournaments in the hope of growing interest in America.

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RFU chief operating officer Sue Day said: “We are thrilled to be hosting the 2025 women’s World Cup – it’s going to be incredible.

“Working closely with Government, UK Sport, Sport England and World Rugby, we will create a lasting legacy for women’s rugby in England, the UK and across the world, both in terms of attracting more people to play and attracting new fans.

“As we have seen from other home World Cups in cricket, hockey and netball, a World Cup will further advance all women’s sport.

“The tournament will also deliver significant economic benefits right across the country.”

The Rugby Football Union forecasts that it will provide a £156million uplift to the UK economy and has set the target of organising the best attended women’s World Cup in history.

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Pool games will be held across the country amid the introduction of a new 16-team format with Twickenham hosting the final, where it is hoped a 82,000 sell-out crowd will be present.

It will be the first time since 2010 that England have hosted the event and they are current Six Nations champions and the game’s number one ranked side who will enter this year’s World Cup in New Zealand as favourites.

World Rugby has announced its next five tournaments to provide “hosting certainty” after the race to land the 2023 men’s World Cup was won by France ahead of South Africa in contentious circumstances.

The game’s global governing body has also approved a “new model that will see World Rugby form partnerships with national unions and governments to establish a local delivery structure in each nation”.

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Australia staged the successful 2003 men’s event that was won by England and are seen as a safe pair of hands for 2027 and 2029, while America’s time in the spotlight early next decade offers the platform to broaden the sport’s appeal in new markets.

“USA Rugby will now venture into a new era and ensure the sport’s most treasured event is a springboard for creating lasting, sustainable enthusiasm and passion for rugby from coast to coast,” USA Rugby chief executive Ross Young said.

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Tom 33 minutes ago
English rugby pundits and fans really need to get a grip

However I think the “if their opponents had scored more points then England would have lost” retrospective is pointless at best and silly at worst.

I completely understand your view on this but England were the worst team in both games and if we're letting the result detract from the evaluation of the performance then we're doing ourselves a disservice. England fans should not get excited because we scraped two fortunate wins, it was a swing in variance and long term that variance will come crashing down on England because they did not play well. Ifs and buts aside I don't think anyone thinks England are better than either France or Scotland. The performance is what matters, results follow performances in the long run.


You could for sure argue that the games they lost they could have won if the bounce of a ball went differently. In none of those narrow loses did England feel considerably the better team and there weren't moments you'd chalk up to massive amounts of fortune. In the two narrow loses they very much felt like the worst team and there were many moments where the rub of the green went England's way. Ultimately, they've had an uptick in variance which will average itself out to more losses because they're not good. These two results don't mean anything has been fixed. As I say, performances are what I'm looking for, not results, the results come if the performances are good and right now the performance in every game has more or less been dire.

4 Go to comments
R
RedWarriors 55 minutes ago
France change two for Ireland but stick with 7-1 bench tactic

I saw Ben Kayser saying the French players would be livid and motivated due to the Ringrose ban etc. Galthie and Ntamack know the exact reason why the bans differ and one must assume the French squad does also. Galthie is playing silly buggers.


As the red card for Ringrose fell right before a fallow week, he WAS released by Leinster who provided accompanying substantiation. Precedent shows club matches are included in bans in such cases. For Galthie/France alone precedents are Atonio (2023), Haouas (2023), and Danty (2024). Club matches counted for bans.


Ntamack was different because France were due to play a match the following week (versus England). Therefore Galthie COULD NOT release Ntamack. In the written decision, Galthie tried to argue that Ntamack would be released after England but had to admit that a lot depended on outcome of England match which was unknowable. On top of that Ntamack was the starting outhalf for France.

The precedents for the Ntamack situation are O’Mahony (2021) where club games did not count, and Willemse (2024) where Willemse had a 10 match ban reduced to 4 and club matches DID count for the suspension.


So Galthie has had three cases like Ringrose (Atonio, Haouas, Danty) with same outcome as Ringrose. He had one previous case like Ntamack where he succeeded, but he was aware of and even mentioned the O’Mahony case where all the ban was for International matches.


In a nutshell. Why were those players allowed club matches to count? Because they WERE released for the club games.

Why did club matches not count for O’Mahony and Ntamack? Because they WERE NOT released for the club games which meant they could not reach the evidential threshold required.


Why is he demanding a World Rugby inquiry when he knows the reasons for such decisions, has known for years, has benefitted for years? France know this and Ireland knows this.

Dupont and the French team are honorable. This wont sit well with them. I would argue this is a bigger motivator for Ireland than for France.


Conclusion: Galthie is under serious pressure to win this match

31 Go to comments
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