TWICKENHAM — Ellie Kildunne’s scintillating early try pointed the way for England to beat Canada 33-13 at Twickenham to regain the women’s Rugby World Cup title they had won in 1994 and 2014, after painful defeats to New Zealand in the finals of 2017 and 2022.
Playing their seventh consecutive World Cup final, in front of a world-record crowd for women’s rugby of 81,885, England’s players surely sensed they always had a winning performance like this within them team – the question from the outside was whether nerves or some other intangible would trip them up.
Canada never gave up, and they can be proud of knocking out the holders, the Black Ferns, in the semi-final, and for keeping the final competitive, but the ultimate result was never in doubt.
Canada had the opening try, through wing Asia Hogan-Rochester after four minutes. But England hit their stride with a weaving try by full-back Kildunne, who beat flanker Karen Paquin’s tackle then sidestepped past two more defenders.
Kildunne starred throughout the tournament (Photo: PA)A catch-and-drive try for hooker Amy Cokayne, and a score from a close-range scrum by No 8 Alex Matthews, plus three conversions by fly-half Zoe Harrison, had England 21-8 up by half-time, after a penalty by Canada’s totem Sophie de Goede, and the gap could have been wider.
The England scrum was dominant, shoving the Maple Leafs backwards, and the Red Roses’ jackalling at the breakdown was quick and well-rehearsed, epitomised led by the prop Hannah Botterman, who is one of the team’s crowd favourites.
Throw in England’s power-packed double tackles to stem Canada’s attempts to build phases, and it was all looking decided by half-time..
Abbie Ward had England’s fourth try from a scrum in 49 minutes but Canada stayed in touch at 26-13 with Hogan-Rochester’s second.
In a crucial spell of Canada pressure leading up to the hour mark, they lacked the sangfroid and skill to unpick England’s well-drilled defence.
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And Matthews’ second try after 68 minutes sealed the deal.
Overall, this 10th edition of the Women’s World Cup has been a procession of emphatic wins for England – and good luck to them, as the Rugby Football Union and the clubs and a set of players giving full commitment and diligent preparation, and they have set a standard for others to follow.
There were 440,000 tickets sold, and half of the spectators were attending their first matches of women’s rugby.
Will those newbies now flock to women’s and girls’ sections at clubs and schools? Or were simply here for a fun ride in the confident expectation of England success?If those questions are the lingering ones now, we also saw Zoe Aldcroft and her England team answer those we had pondered pre-match, as they extended their Test record run of wins to 33 since the losing final in Auckland in 2022 they ought to have won too.
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