Defending Women’s Rugby World Cup champions New Zealand will face Ireland in next year’s tournament, which will be 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 failed to qualify for the last World Cup, have the best win ratio against New Zealand of any team in the world. The two teams have only met 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.
New Zealand back Ruahei Demant said: “I think it’s exciting, why do you want an easy pool at a World Cup? Why do you want an easy run at a World Cup? I think it’s a good shot at redemption for us too .Sometimes we play against teams and we don’t get the result we want and we go a whole year and we don’t get to play them again. So to know we get a chance to play against them again in a pool match, I know it will be an exciting week for the 23 named in that matchday squad.”
New Zealand and Ireland were drawn together in Pool C along with Spain and Japan. Spain are competing in their first World Cup since 2017. The draw was made by 2014 World Cup winner Maggie Alphonsi alongside BBC hosts Gabby Logan and Roman Kemp.
Quick guide
The WC draw is full
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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
Elsewhere, hosts Red Roses are in Pool A with Australia, Samoa and USA. The Wallaroos will pose a tough challenge for England, who have never topped their pool at a World Cup. Samoa is participating in a World Cup for the first time since 2014.
The Red Roses played another of their upcoming pool opponents, the United States, recently in WXV 1. England won 61-21 in the opening game of the tournament before going on to beat New Zealand and Canada to retain the trophy. England are favorites to win the World Cup, which starts on August 22, when they will lift the trophy for the first time since 2014. The Red Roses, who are unbeaten in 20 games in a row, reached the final in 2017 and 2022, but were both beaten by New Zealand.
England captain Marlie Packer said of her side’s dominance on the BBC: “For me personally it’s a huge honor and a privilege [to lead England]. When you know every team wants to beat you, you can’t be complacent. You must always push yourself in the squad. Training sessions, we always strive to be the best.”
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Wales and Scotland were both drawn in Pool B and will be up 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 phase of the competition.
The 2025 tournament, which has been expanded from 12 to 16 teams, will use several different stadiums across the country, culminating in the final at Twickenham. The pre-sale for the first game, the third place and the final sold more than 60,000 tickets across the games.
After the pool stage is completed at next year’s tournament, the top two teams in each pool advance to the quarter-finals. The match schedule for the event will be published on 22 October.