England's flanker Zoe Aldcroft and England's centre Megan Jones lift the winners trophy following the Women’s Rugby World Cup final between Canada and England at Twickenham, 2025. Photo: GLYN KIRK / AFP
England delivered the victory their incredible form demanded on Saturday when they outclassed Canada 33-13 in front of a delirious record 81,885 Twickenham crowd to win the Women's Rugby World Cup for the third time on a memorable day for the sport.
England came into the game having won 62 of their last 63 games spanning six years, with the glaring failure being their agonising World Cup final defeat to New Zealand in 2022.
This time, however, they made no mistake, racing to a 21-8 halftime lead, defending well when they had to, then finishing strongly to extend their record winning run to 33 games.
It followed World Cup wins in 2014 and 1994 and helped to bury the pain of six final defeats, including the last two tournaments.
Canada, appearing in their second final after losing that 2014 decider, were unable to reproduce the pace and aggression that stunned New Zealand in the semi-finals and had no answer to England's relentless assaults.
For England, but also for the whole of women's rugby, it was a wonderful occasion to cap off a tournament that has dwarfed the nine that came before.
Around 50,000 fans filed into Twickenham early to see New Zealand beat France 42-26 in the Bronze final and by the time the teams ran out for the main event the biggest crowd by far to watch a women's rugby match were at fever pitch.
The air went out of the balloon somewhat after five minutes as Canada, who had to crowd-fund their trip, stole a lineout and sent Asia Hogan-Rochester over for the opening try.
It proved only the briefest of blips, however, as England recovered and quickly stamped their authority on the match.
They hit back three minutes later through their sharpest attacker and the crowd's darling world player of the year Ellie Kildunne - who scythed through four defenders to score a trademark try under the posts.
Three years ago Kildunne scored in the third minute of the final as England raced into an early 14-0 lead, only to eventually lose 34-31.
This time, however, they kept their foot on the throat and did not allow Canada, ranked second in the world, a sniff as they turned to their other point-accumulating USP, the driving maul, to send Amy Cokayne over for a second try.
Canada were creaking, missing too many tackles and giving away a succession of penalties as England continued to hammer the line. They eventually broke it via the strength of number eight Alex Matthews, appearing in her fourth World Cup final.
Zoe Harrison converted all three tries to make it 21-5 after half an hour.
England then showed the other side of their game, the side they rarely need to show, when they mounted a spirited touchline defence that eventually forced Canada to abandon their battering-ram approach and instead kick three points.
The players ran off to a rousing rendition of "Swing Low", albeit at a higher pitch than usual as the thousands of youngsters, particularly girls, serenaded their new heroes.
It took 10 minutes of the second half for England to get their fourth try, their relentless pounding forwards smashing a path for Abby Ward to score.
Canada, with half their squad still semi-professional, showed terrific spirit to get a brief foothold as Hogan-Rochester got a second try and they enjoyed a spell camped on the England line, but the hosts survived and, as they usually do, finished strongly as Matthews got a second try and the crowd roared them home.
-Reuters
