Countdown to the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025

The countdown is officially on as we're now under a year away from the start of the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025!

As we look ahead to August 2025, excitement is building starting for what is set to be an historic event for English rugby.

Background

As the hosts, England will no doubt be one of the favourites to take the title. Playing in front of a home crowd, the Red Roses will be looking to right some wrongs having finished runner-up in five of the last six competitions, winning their last title back in 2014.

Besting them in each of those unfortunate second-place finishes, was New Zealand. The Black Ferns, as they’re called, are the powerhouses of this tournament, winning a stunning six out nine Women’s World Cups since the tournament’s inception.

Triumphing in two out of the three times New Zealand have failed to claim the trophy, England will feel confident about their chances of going all the way in front of a Twickenham Stadium packed-out with home fans.

Their confidence will be boosted by a fantastic victory in the 2024 Women’s Six Nations where the Red Roses secured a third consecutive Grand Slam after five impressive victories.

Star players to look out for

This campaign was spear-headed by immaculate performances from captain Marlie Packer (the 2023 World Player of the Year) and Ellie Kildunne, who won player of the tournament after finishing as the top try scorer.

Other names to look out for include Portia Woodman-Wickliffe. The New Zealand wing is often referred to as the greatest women’s rugby player of all time, winning back-to-back Women’s Rugby World Cups as well as being the all-time top try scorer in the competition, across the men’s and women’s games.

She has also had huge success in Rugby Sevens too (a variant of Rugby Union with teams of seven and seven-minute halves), winning two Olympic gold medals, a Commonwealth Games gold medal, and two Rugby World Cup Sevens titles.

France will also fancy their chances as a dark horse in the competition, finishing as runners-up in the 2024 Six Nations, and having consistent performances in previous World Cups, finishing third a remarkable seven times.

Some stars to look out for in the France Women squad will include Romane Menager and Manae Feleu, who both finished in the Six Nations team of the tournament after impressive performances.

The Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 promises to be an absolute cracker, with stars across the board and a Red Roses team determined to build on recent success by winning the ultimate prize, that has eluded them for over a decade, in front of their home crowd.

Qualifying recap

With the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 now under a year away, qualification for the finals is nearly wrapped up. As of August 2024, ten teams have booked their place in the tournament, with six left to be decided.

The host nation England automatically qualified, and will be joined by Canada, France, New Zealand, Brazil, Ireland, South Africa, Japan, USA, and Fiji.

France, New Zealand and Canada were all rewarded with an automatic qualification berth as a result of success in the 2021 World Cup, making it to the semi-finals of that tournament alongside England.

The rest of the places were decided through four regional tournaments in: Asia (Japan, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan), Africa (South Africa, Kenya, Cameroon, Madagascar), Oceania (Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Papa New Guinea), and World Rugby’s cross-regional tournament ‘the Pacific Four Series’ (Canada, New Zealand, USA, Australia).

Japan absolutely dominated their competition in the Asia Rugby Women’s Championship, winning both of their games to secure a comfortable route to the tournament, rounding it off with a stunning 64-0 win over Kazakhstan where they scored ten tries.

South Africa defended their Rugby Africa Women’s Cup throne in front of a packed-out crowd with an impressive 46-17 victory over Madagascar to secure their place in the finals.

In the Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship, Fiji overcame reigning champions of Oceania Samoa to become the ninth team to qualify for the tournament, with a 27-13 victory.

With Canada and New Zealand already qualified, it was down to USA and Australia to fight for the qualification spot in the Pacific Four Series, and USA came from behind to win 32-25 to steal the qualification spot from the Wallaroos.

Sudamericana Rugby was granted one spot, to the winner of a qualifying match between Brazil and Colombia, where underdogs Brazil came out on top 34-13 after not beating their rivals in the previous seven encounters.

The remaining six teams to qualify will gain their spot through the WXV 2024 tournament, where the six best non-qualified nations will earn their spot in the prestigious world cup finals.

This will take place between 27 September and 13 October, and once concluded, the 16 qualified teams will be decided, and the draw for the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 can take place.