One week to go – your essential World Cup briefing

2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup

Venue: England Date: 22 August – 27 September

Coverage: Every match involving England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland live on BBC One or BBC Two, while every game will be live on the BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app, with coverage on BBC Radio 5 Live and Sports Extra

England are making their final preparations for the Women’s Rugby World Cup, acclimatising to the pressure of being red-hot favourites on home soil.

The Red Roses open the tournament in a week’s time with a match against the United States on Friday, 22 August in Sunderland.

The hosts have lost only once in their past 58 matches – a surprise defeat by New Zealand in the final of the last edition of the tournament in 2022.

They have won six successive Six Nations Grand Slams, avenged that defeat by the Black Ferns in each of the teams’ past three meetings and are well clear at the top of the world rankings.

Head coach John Mitchell is conscious that the pressure of expectation will be one of their most formidable challenges to overcome if they are to lift the trophy on 27 September at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium.

With our mental-skills support, we are helping the girls individually. Or, for the girls in previous World Cups, unpack and bring closure to those things,” said Mitchell.

“That experience of 2022 has now made us ready for now.”

England face Samoa and Australia in their other Pool A games.

If the tournament were to progress in line with the current world rankings, the Red Roses would face Scotland in the quarter-finals and France in the semi-finals, before a final against either second-ranked Canada or holders New Zealand.

Ireland are fifth in the world rankings, up from 10th two years ago. They failed to even qualify for the 2022 tournament.

Their rise has included a memorable 29-27 upset of New Zealand in September 2024. They were also within a score of France until the closing stages of the teams’ Six Nations meeting in March.

A big factor in their progress in the tournament may be the fitness of Aoife Wafer. The 22-year-old star back row was named the player of this year’s women’s Six Nations, but is still recovering from knee ligament damage sustained in April.

“We feel we’ve got a really strong plan in place to get her back on the pitch,” said coach Scott Bemand of Wafer in July.

“People want to see her play. We want to see her play. We think we’re tracking towards that.”

With influential back-five operators Dorothy Wall and Erin King already out, Bemand duly named Wafer in his squad, hoping she can make a swift and strong return to action.

The schedule may play in Wafer’s favour. Ireland will take on Japan and Spain before concluding their Pool C fixtures against New Zealand.