Now we know the four teams: Canada, England, France and New Zealand. Cynics will say they’ve known them for years. Sadly they’re right, but there’s no short cut to glory. Each of the four has its own approach to these final stages. Once again in alphabetical order: Canada was the union to place its cards
In stark contrast to the melodrama in Exeter earlier, the England-Scotland match in Bristol was a foregone conclusion. The only parallel was the rain; it poured. Not for the first time in this tournament, the side destined to lose scored first. The moment Aurelie Groizeleau offered the Scots a penalty, Rachel Malcolm pointed to the
England’s squad to face Scotland at Bristol looks like this: 15 ROWLAND 14 DOW 13 JONES 12 HEARD 11 BREACH 10 AITCHISON 9 HUNT 1 CLIFFORD 2 COKAYNE 3 MUIR 4 TALLING 5 GALLIGAN 6 ALDCROFT (captain) 7 KABEYA 8 MATTHEWS 16 ATKIN-DAVIES 17 CARSON 18 BERN 19 WARD 20 FEAUNATI 21 L. PACKER 22
A striking visual installation honouring every Red Rose in England Rugby history has been unveiled at the London Eye as the squad heads into a crucial weekend A spectacular Red Roses display has today been unveiled at the iconic London Eye, celebrating the past and present of England women’s rugby and sending a powerful message
New Zealand are going to win a seventh world trophy. That is what hundreds of Kiwi pundits are telling us, and the Black Ferns’ performance against the Irish (40-0) adds strength to their contention. But first the schedule: Saturday 13 September New Zealand v South Africa KO 13.00* Canada v Australia KO 16.00 Sunday 14
A huge crowd at a breezy Brighton watched England start their last group-stage match with a string of errors. Was it nerves, or over-confidence or wrong selections? Amy Cokayne failed to find her line-out target three times; Meg Jones threw two wild passes. As they regained possession in deep defence, they ran the ball out
This is the 23 John Mitchell has summoned for the third and last round of the preliminaries: 15 KILDUNNE 14 DOW 13 JONES 12 HEARD 11 BREACH 10 HARRISON 9 HUNT 1 BOTTERMAN 2 COKAYNE 3 MUIR 4 GALLIGAN 5 WARD 6 TALLING 7 KABEYA 8 MATTHEWS (captain) 16 ATKIN-DAVIES 17 CLIFFORD 18 BERN 19
England may have finished the easy winners we all expected, but no-one should deny Samoa’s right to be there. They played throughout with pride and courage. A much changed Red Roses side took three minutes to secure their first score through Meg Jones. Two debutants, Lilli ives Campion with a clean take, then Jade Shekells
The crucial issue for the Red Roses was, who was fit to play? The good news is that Helena Rowland, Claudia Moloney-Macdonald and Mackenzie Carson are all aboard, Rowland slotting in at 10 for a change. That means in turn that Holly Aitchison is still AWOL. Two players. Abi Burton and Lilli ives Campion make
England started their long-awaited pursuit of the World Cup hesitantly. Later the cork popped out and the fizz flowed. Thr forwards failed to take the kick-off on the full and had to scramble. This was repeated twice more, leaving Abbie Ward in uncomfortable gymnastic positions. The Eagles pressed hard, built nice little moves but couldn’t
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