Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 Pools Confirmed – Japan in Pool C

The draw for Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 Pools Confirmed took place live on The One Show, and streamed on RugbyPassTV on 17 October, with the 16 qualified teams allocated to pools of four.  Japan Sakura XV (the only Asian representation) are in Pool C with defending champions New Zealand, Ireland, and Spain.

The draw was done by BBC Sport’s Gabby Logan, England’s Women’s Rugby World Cup 2014 winner Maggie Alphonsi and presenter Roman Kemp independently overseen by PWC.

The 16 qualified teams were placed into four bands based on the World Rugby Women’s Rankings as of 14 October with the top four teams in Band 1 (England, Canada, New Zealand and France) prepopulated into the first position of each pool.

Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 Pools

Hosts and current number one team in the World Rugby Women’s Rankings, England, were drawn against Australia, USA, and Samoa in Pool A. England won the WXV1 competion again in 2024 and have only lost one match in their last 50 tests – which was the previous RWC final in NZ vs the hosts.

Pool B sees the world’s number two Canada set to face Scotland, Wales and Fiji. Canada are the second ranked team in the world but finished third in WXV1 2024 – they pushed England the hardest in the tournament. Scotland were runners-up in WXV2, while Fiji were runners-up in WXV3 but are also now in seatch for a new head coach after Mosese Rauluni resigned as the head coach of the Fijiana 15s team during WXV.

Reigning champions New Zealand are joined by Ireland, Japan and Spain in Pool C. Japan is currently ranked 11th in the World and behind NZ (3rd), Ireland (6th) but ahead of Spain (13th). The side is also in their worst winless streak ever in test match history and no more matches have been announced for 2024, with the Asia Rugby Women’s Championships usually played in the first half of each year (for 2025). Ireland finished 2nd in WXV1 2024 – ahead of NZ who were 4th. Spain qualified from WXV3 and won the division to qualify for RWC 2025.

• This is the first time Japan has been pooled with NZ.
• In all of their five Women’s Rugby World Cup appearances, Japan have never been drawn in a pool containing the eventual champions.
• This is the Sakura XV 6th Women’s Rugby World Cup and they have a record of; played 20/ won 3 / lost 17.

Rugby World Cup 2021 bronze medalists France are drawn in Pool D alongside Italy, South Africa and Brazil. France was a disappointing 5th in the WXV1 2024, while both Italy and SA finished 3rd and 4th in WXV2. Brazil (Yaras) didn’t compete at the tournament but does have matches against Holland scheduled for the end of 2024.

Teams at RWC 2025 will play each of their pool opponents over three weekends with the two best teams on competition points in each pool qualifying for the quarter-finals and the knockout phase.

Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 pools

• 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

Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 Fixtures & Tickets

The complete list of fixtures will be revealed on Tuesday, 22 October 2024 via the tournament website. More than 60,000 tickets were acquired by fans for England’s opening match at Sunderland and the final matches at Twickenham.

Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 Managing Director, Sarah Massey, said: “With anticipation building amongst fans and teams for next year’s showpiece event, today marks an important step forward to what will be an unmissable tournament.

Next week will see the tournament celebrate another exciting milestone, as we unveil the match schedule, allowing fans, host locations and teams to start preparing their Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 experience in earnest.”

Fans will have the opportunity to apply for tickets for all matches from 11:00 GMT on Tuesday, 5 November 2024 until 11:00 GMT on Tuesday, 19 November 2024. Ballots will be used for any price categories which are oversubscribed.

Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 News

• World Rugby Launches Impact Beyond 2025 Global Impact Programme.
• Official Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 Gilbert Ball Unveiled.
• HBS Appointed As Production Partner for Men’s and Women’s Rugby World Cups.
• World Rugby Extends Partnership With Two Circles.