England Women have taken extra motivation and inspiration from the Lionesses’ European Championship success this summer as they prepare to get their Women’s Rugby World Cup challenge on home turf under way this week.

The Red Roses begin the tournament this Friday against USA with an extra spring in their step as they look to continue what has already been an incredible summer of women’s sport.

England are overwhelming favourites to scoop a first world title since 2014 and are brimming with confidence on the back of 27 successive victories – including warm-up wins over Spain and France – and having claimed their seventh straight Six Nations title back in April.

Their last defeat came in the 2022 World Cup final, when they narrowly lost 34-31 despite battling with 14 players following an 18th-minute red card.

The pressure of being odds-on favourite is one similar to that experienced by the Lionesses heading into their home Euro tournament in 2022, and one Sarina Wiegman’s side rose to the occasion by winning the first of their back-to-back European trophies.

Now the Red Roses want to continue the feel-good factor this summer by delivering on expectations and lifting the World Cup in front of what is expected to be a sold-out Allianz Stadium on Saturday September 27.

“What the Lionesses have been doing is incredible,” Red Roses captain Zoe Aldcroft told a packed press conference at Twickenham Stadium, believed to be the largest media gathering ahead of a tournament for both England men and women.

“We watched them together against Italy [in the semi-finals] and were right behind them. It’s incredible that you see the country getting behind them. That is something we want to build and achieve that momentum.”

England centre, Meg Jones added: “People speak about the Lionesses inspiring a nation of young girls, well we’re full-grown women and we feel inspired every time we watch them.”

For England head coach John Mitchell, he sees comparisons between the Lionesses and the Red Roses. He said: “In two tournaments, the Lionesses have shown strong values and qualities. I think many of those exist in our group too.

“In tournaments, you have to earn the right the hard way, and they’re doing that. The key part of that glue [for the Lionesses] is the strength of their connections. There’s a lot to learn from that.”

Red Roses follow Lionesses in taking group stages around England

Just as the Lionesses did in 2022, when they took their group matches around the country, the Red Roses will have their own roadshow around England with Pool A matches against USA, Samoa and Australia taking them to Sunderland, Northampton and Brighton.

“We start the campaign in Sunderland and make our way down the whole country, so we give access to the whole of England, not just the south, which is super important,” Aldcroft added.

It will be in stark contrast to Aldcroft’s England international debut back in the United States five years ago, where she said there were no stands and people just stood by the pitch before adding: “I think there must have been about 30 people, if that!”

Fast forward, and nearly 60,000 turned out for England’s first standalone women’s Test at Twickenham Stadium for the Red Roses’ Six Nations finale against France in May 2023.

“That was a moment where it felt like a real change in women’s rugby,” Aldcroft said.

“Hopefully, going into this tournament, we’ll be able to create that momentum and get a packed-out stadium at Twickenham [for the final]. That would be unbelievable and I think that the same feelings would apply again to that change in women’s rugby and the growth that is to come.”

Kildunne wants talking to stop, so Red Roses can get on with job in hand

Being excited about what is around the corner is fuelling Ellie Kildunne as she counts down to the start of the World Cup.

While much talk has been made of Chloe Kelly’s iconic goal celebrations for the Lionesses, be sure to expect plenty of “cowboy” celebrations with every try scored by the full-back, as well as plenty of cowboy-hat-wearing spectators in the stands in tribute to one of the fans’ favourites.

“I feel like [women’s rugby] has been big for the past three years,” said Kildunne, who ramped up excitement at the recent media event by cheering the players when they were announced on the panel.

“Since the last World Cup, it’s been almost everything that people have been talking about. It’s not that I’m bored of people talking about it, but I actually want to play alongside to show them everything that’s been spoken of.

“We don’t know what to expect, we’re just focusing on ourselves and how we’re playing. But I think the journey we’re going to be on over the next few months and seeing the rise of the crowds coming in, how much social media starts talking about women’s rugby for the first time and that’s something we’re really excited about.

“It’s not something that we’re really focused on, but we’re prepared for what’s to come without knowing what that is.”

One of England’s heroes from their last world title success in 2014, Nolli Waterman, is “intrigued” to see how the Red Roses handle pressure like they’ve never had before.

Waterman, who was part of the British and Irish Lions coverage on Sky this summer, told Sky Sports:

“I think women’s rugby is in a really special place in England at the moment. PWR [Premiership Women’s Rugby] as a league has really started to produce some brilliant rugby and some really awesome social media followings.

“I think having Ilona Maher go to Bristol Bears was huge. Each of the clubs are really starting to build. They’re building an identity for themselves, which is brilliant.

“They’re so multinational in terms of who they’re attracting, they’ve got players from around the world.”

Waterman believes England will be “pretty battered” by three physical pool matches but is confident they will progress from their Pool comfortably.

“From an England perspective, they’ve got a hard pool. I think they’ll come away with some comfortable scorelines, but there’s going to be some tired bodies that are pretty battered. They’re playing three very physical sides.

“In 2014 we played Samoa and they were phenomenally strong, even though we comfortably beat them on the scoreboard.

“I’m genuinely excited to see a totally different demographic at all of the games. Rugby needs that injection of energy in different ways. I really hope that people get behind that and enjoy it for what it is, and for all of those new experiences at games.”

England’s coaching set up gives side another string to their bow

When Simon Middleton left his role as England head coach in April 2023, he spoke of the need to have ‘female influence’ on the team and to move away from their previous all-male set-up.

Now the Red Roses boast an equal split of two male [head coach John Mitchell and forwards coach Louis Deacon] and two female coaches [defence coach Sarah Hunter and attack coach Lou Meadows]. For former England international Deacon, the team have struck an “outstanding balance”.

“I don’t think other nations have got it quite right yet, they are still quite male-dominated, but I think we have a great split,” Deacon told Sky Sports News.

“Sarah [Hunter] is hugely knowledgeable, experienced, and her attention to detail is outstanding which will make her a very, very good coach. Her knowledge is as good as any other male coach. I could see her becoming a head coach one day.”

At this year’s Six Nations, only one head coach in charge was female, that of France’s Gaëlle Mignot, who worked alongside David Oritz.

The Women’s Rugby World Cup will see only three of the 16 teams competing in the Pool stages led by women. As well as Mignot, Australia’s Jo Yapp and Japan’s Lesley McKenzie are the only other women leading their countries.

Lou Meadows believes having that mixture of male and female coaches has many benefits but also highlighted one area where a woman within the coaching set up is important.

She told Sky Sports: “To have that balance, not just around the gender but then the diversity of thinking, the background and journey into that position is really important to shape the way you carry that role out.

“The menstrual cycle is a massive part of the female journey, regardless of whether you’re an athlete or not. But when you are an athlete and you’re pushing your body, especially in a physical contact sport, when that comes into play it can cause a lot of pain for that individual and impacts us in different ways.

“For players to be able to comfortably share that, and say it freely without judgement, we’ve always got that empathy.

“To be fair to the male staff, they are hugely educated themselves on it and they are always working around how to manage it. But you’re never going to get that same empathy or connection as you would female-to-female on it.”

Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 schedule

• Pool A: England, Australia, USA, Samoa.
• Pool B: Canada, Scotland, Wales, Fiji.
• Pool C: New Zealand, Ireland, Japan, Spain.
• Pool D: France, Italy, South Africa, Brazil.

The knockout stages then see the tournament progress to the quarter-finals, semi-finals, a third-place play-off and then the final.

The winners of England’s Pool A will face the runners-up from Scotland and Wales’ Pool B in the quarters, while the winners of France’s Pool D will face the runners-up from New Zealand and Ireland’s Pool C. The Pool B winners will face the Pool A runners-up, with the winners of Pool C facing the the Pool D runners-up.

The semi-final split will then see the victors of the quarter-final clash involving the winners of Pool A (potentially England) face the winners of the quarter involving the winners of Pool D (potentially France).

That means that should New Zealand and Canada top their pools and progress, England would avoid them until the final, to be held at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday 27 September – that is providing the Red Roses win their pool.