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National anthems time: God Save the King, then the Star-Spangled Banner. The USA team are actually harmonising quite nicely here. Advantage America? Kick-off is imminent.
Zoe Aldcroft, the England captain, leads her team into the tunnel – Kate Zackary, the USA skipper, stands beside her. They emerge! Flames blast into the sky with fireworks and the noise of 44,000 fans in Sunderland.
The opening ceremony – pleasingly starting with 15 minutes to go before kick-off – involves Anne-Marie serenading a very well populated Stadium of Light.
Her dancers actually show some neat handling skills as they toss a few balls around. Though I think I spotted a few forward passes. Where is the TMO? Good lord.
The USA superstar Ilona Maher spoke to Martin Pengelly in the buildup to this World Cup. Get involved!
Ahead of a World Cup in England set to take the women’s game to new audiences, the 5ft 10in US center is a global star. Followed by millions on social media, a reality TV contestant and swimsuit model broadcasting a message of body positivity, the kid in the pink scrum cap has become a phenomenon – easily rugby’s biggest breakout star in the 30 years since the All Blacks wing Jonah Lomu stormed the men’s stage.
“It’s only natural there’s some nerves,” says John Mitchell, England’s head coach. “The wait is over, now we can let our rugby do our talking on the pitch.” He’s keen to play down expectations, pointing out every team starts equal.
Mitchell has done his best to take his pressure off the players in the buildup, repeatedly pointing out that New Zealand are the world champions; that England must take this crown. Trying to engineer a challenger mindset, naturally.
A match score prediction from David Ward: “Thanks for the positive response to my snarky email. Very unusual for the internet! In the same spirit, I should say that although an American, I’m a confirmed Anglophile and usually support English (and British) teams and individual sportspeople. But I find the media and fan great expectations maddening ... England 42-USA 10.”
A good shout David, I see some analysis asking whether the USA will have half an eye on the next, possibly qualification-deciding Pool A match against Australia – but I’m not sure I buy that. It’s the opening game of a World Cup! The Eagles will give it their all.
Andy Bull’s preview of this tournament covers the rapid changes women’s rugby is seeing. A sobering reminder that teams once had to sell raffle tickets and vodka to fund their campaigns; now women are front and centre of the sport’s global development.
“We just want to play to out potential,” says Sione Fukofuka, the USA head coach, with kick-off 40 minutes away. “England are world No 1 for a reason, but we have our strike players and we want to unleash them today. Success for us looks like playing to our potential, pushing through the pool and into the knockout stages.”
Maggie Alphonsi, the former England international, on the BBC predicts that the hosts and the USA to go through from Pool A. Interesting shout. Covering all bases; while possibly infuriating/motivating Australia.
David Ward emails in, rightly warning me not to count any chickens: “Umm … if (as many people supposedly say, although I doubt you have evidence) the England squad is both the best and second best side in the world how did they ever lose to New Zealand? This kind of pre-tournament journalistic/media hubris is actually why in all sports England usually bottle the big occasions.” Wise words, David! Merely trying to illustrate the strength of England’s squad.
The Black Ferns are absolutely England’s bogey team in Women’s Rugby World Cups at the best of times – the six-time world champions have beaten the Red Roses in the past two finals. Canada are also dangerous dark horses in this competition and France (despite the warm-up blowout defeat) lost by only one point to the Red Roses in the Women’s Six Nations. England are not invincible.
There will be in excess of 40,000 fans at the Stadium of Light for this match, which means it might well break the Women’s Rugby World Cup attendance record – 42,579 for the 2022 final won by the Black Ferns. But, of course, it won’t hold that record for long: the 2025 final is already sold out.
With kick-off an hour away, it’s time to read a red-hot match preview. Sarah Rendell has broken down the World Cup opener, with intel such as:
The two sides have played 21 times and the US have won one – the 1991 World Cup final. In 2025, the USA have played six games and won one, 31-24 against Fiji. England have played seven matches in this calendar year and have won all of them, extending their unbeaten run to 27 matches. While those predicting point to a big Red Roses win, the team are not getting caught up in the hype.
The teams
John Mitchell has named the same England XV that routed France 40-6 in their final warm-up match earlier this month. Zoe Harrison was likely to get the No 10 shirt anyway but Holly Aitchison still carrying a knock ends that debate; she isn’t among the replacements yet.
Strength in depth is the Red Roses’ superpower rather than any individual star (I say, staring at a team sheet on which the first name is Ellie Kildunne; the reigning world player of the year).
Do USA have any hope? Well, they have Hope Rogers – the Exeter Chiefs forward who won a place in the Premiership team of the year last season – plus the experience of Alev Kelter and Kate Zackary. Also, at No 13, Ilona Maher, who’s turned down offers from Hollywood and even the WWE to play XVs rugby at a World Cup. How many people can say that?
England: Ellie Kildunne; Abby Dow, Meg Jones, Tatyana Heard, Jess Breach; Zoe Harrison, Natasha Hunt; Hannah Botterman, Amy Cokayne, Maud Muir, Morwenna Talling, Abbie Ward, Zoe Aldcroft (capt), Sadia Kabeya, Alex Matthews.
Replacements: Lark Atkin-Davies, Kelsey Clifford, Sarah Bern, Rosie Galligan, Maddie Feaunati, Lucy Packer, Emily Scarratt, Emma Sing.
USA: Lotte Sharp; Emily Henrich, Ilona Maher, Alev Kelter, Bulou Mataitoga; McKenzie Hawkins, Olivia Ortiz; Hope Rogers, Kathryn Treder, Keia Mae Sagapolu, Tahlia Brody, Erica Jarrell-Searcy, Kate Zackary (capt), Georgie Perris-Redding, Rachel Johnson.
Replacements: Paige Stathopoulos, Alivia Leatherman, Charli Jacoby, Rachel Ehrecke, Freda Tafuna, Cassidy Bargell, Kristin Bitter, Sariah Ibarra.
Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (SA)
Preamble
So it begins. England go into a home Women’s Rugby World Cup as by far the planet’s outstanding side with an astonishing record of 57 wins in their past 58 Tests. But that one defeat? Yep, the last World Cup final to New Zealand, a setback the Red Roses will be desperate to correct at Twickenham in five weeks’ time. But first they have to get there.
The USA are England’s opening opponent in Pool A, ranked 10th in the world but with the world’s No 1 most famous rugby player in Ilona Maher. The Women’s Eagles are major underdogs (under-eagles?) with a better record in sevens than XVs – they won a bronze medal at the last Olympics, beating a Great Britain side en route – but pressure can do funny things.
England romping to Six Nations and WXV titles is one thing; a home World Cup with all the expectation of not only victory but inspiring a new generation of fans is another. The coach, John Mitchell, has said “every team will rise 10% or 15% in this tournament” when facing the hosts but added that his team don’t mind “being hunted”.
Sione Fukofuka’s physical, hard-running USA side are the hunters at the Stadium of Light. They’ll know their up against it – it’s sometimes said that the best women’s team in the world is England, the second best is England B (pin that up in the dressing room, Sione). But a competitive showing will set them up for their crunch match: a clash with Australia, likely to decide second place and qualification from Pool A, with Samoa the group’s outsiders. For England, only a dominant win will do. Kick-off is at 7.30pm BST.
