The defending Women’s Rugby World Cup champions, New Zealand, will go up against Ireland in next year’s tournament, which is being held in England, after being drawn in the same pool.
England’s pool opponents include Australia, while Wales and Scotland have been drawn together.
Ireland, who did not qualify for the last World Cup, have the best win ratio of any team in the world against New Zealand. The two teams have only played each other three times but Ireland have come out on top twice, most recently in last month’s WXV 1 match. Ireland also beat New Zealand in the 2014 World Cup pool stage.
The New Zealand back Ruahei Demant said: “I think it’s exciting, why would you want an easy pool at a World Cup? Why would you want an easy run at a World Cup? I also think it is a good shot at redemption for us. Sometimes we play teams and we don’t get the result we want and we go a whole year and we may not get to play them again. So to know we get a shot to play them again in a pool match, I know it will be an exciting week for the 23 that are named in that matchday squad.”
New Zealand and Ireland were drawn together in Pool C alongside Spain and Japan. Spain are competing in their first World Cup since 2017. The draw was conducted by the 2014 World Cup winner Maggie Alphonsi, alongside BBC presenters Gabby Logan and Roman Kemp.
Elsewhere, hosts the Red Roses are in Pool A with Australia, Samoa and the USA. The Wallaroos will pose a tough challenge to England, who have never not topped their pool at a World Cup. Samoa are competing at a World Cup for the first time since 2014.
The Red Roses played another of their upcoming pool opponents, the USA, recently in the WXV 1. England beat the USA 61-21 in the opening game of the tournament before going on to beat New Zealand and Canada to retain the trophy. England are favourites to win the World Cup, which starts on 22 August, which would see them claim the trophy for the first time since 2014. The Red Roses, who are currently unbeaten in 20 consecutive games, reached the final in 2017 and 2022 but were beaten both times by New Zealand.
England’s captain, Marlie Packer, said on her team’s dominance on the BBC: “For me personally it is a massive honour and a privilege [to lead England]. Knowing that every team wants to beat you, you can’t be complacent. You have always got to push yourself within the squad. Training sessions, we are always striving to be the best.”
Home nations Wales and Scotland were both drawn in Pool B and they will be against Canada and Fiji. Finally, Pool D features Brazil, who will be playing in their first-ever World Cup. The debutants will play against France, South Africa and Italy in the preliminary stage of the competition.
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The 2025 tournament, which has been expanded from 12 to 16 teams, will use multiple different stadiums across the country, culminating in the final at Twickenham. The pre-sale for the first game, third-place playoff and the final saw more than 60,000 tickets sold across the games.
After the pool stage has concluded at next year’s tournament, the top two teams of each pool will progress to the quarter-final stage. The match schedule for the competition will be released on 22 October.
