Fans will be able to plot their team’s path to Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 glory once Thursday’s eagerly anticipated draw has been made.
Now that all 16 teams for the expanded showpiece tournament have been confirmed the next step is to find out who each team will be playing during the pool stage.
The qualified nations have been seeded based on Monday’s World Rugby Women’s Rankings and divided into four bands.
‘This Energy Never Stops’ – One year to go until the Women’s Rugby World Cup
With exactly one year to go until Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 kicks off
in Sunderland, excitement is sweeping across the host nation in anticipation of what
will be the biggest and most accessible celebration of women’s rugby ever.
Register now for the ticket presale
‘This Energy Never Stops’ – One year to go until the Women’s Rugby World Cup
With exactly one year to go until Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 kicks off
in Sunderland, excitement is sweeping across the host nation in anticipation of what
will be the biggest and most accessible celebration of women’s rugby ever.
Register now for the ticket presale
The top four seeds have been prepopulated into the first position of each pool, with England in Pool A, Canada in Pool B, New Zealand in Pool C and France in Pool D.
You can find out who will join them in those pools by watching the official draw live on the BBC and RugbyPass TV from 19:00 BST (GMT+1) on Thursday.
To help you prepare for the draw, we have taken a closer look at each of the four bands.
Band one
Teams: England, Canada, New Zealand, France
How they qualified: England were guaranteed their place at the tournament as hosts, while the Black Ferns are defending champions and Canada and France also made it due to their performance at Women’s RWC 2021, where they contested the bronze final.
Team to avoid: Canada are arguably the most-improved side in international rugby, but no team from the other three bands will want to be drawn in Pool A. The Red Roses are on a 20-match winning run and have lost just once in their previous 51 Tests.
John Mitchell’s side head into the draw with a record World Rugby Women’s Rankings rating having become the first team – men’s or women’s – to break through the 97-point barrier with victory against Canada last weekend.
Band two
Teams: Australia, Ireland, Scotland, Italy
How they qualified: Ireland booked their ticket to England by finishing third in the Women’s Six Nations standings earlier this year. Australia, Scotland and Italy secured their passage at the end of WXV 2.
Team to avoid: Scott Bemand has overseen a remarkable upturn in results since becoming Ireland head coach just over a year ago. The team has since won eight of their 12 Tests, picking up the inaugural WXV 3 title in his first campaign and then finishing as top-level runners-up last weekend.
Ireland are also the only team in world rugby to boast a winning record about defending champions, New Zealand, having won two of the teams’ three meetings.
Band three
Teams: USA, Wales, Japan, South Africa
How they qualified: USA secured their place in England via the World Rugby Pacific Four Series while Japan and South Africa came through regional qualifying and Wales booked their ticket at the end of WXV.
Team to avoid: The Women’s Eagles finished third in this year’s Pacific Four Series, beating Australia 32-25 at AAMI Park to qualify for the World Cup and WXV 1. An unbeaten two-Test series against Japan followed but despite some encouraging signs in their top-level campaign in Canada, they ended the tournament pointless.
But with the likes of Rachel Johnson, Alev Kelter and captain Kate Zackary in their ranks no team will want to come up against USA.
Band four
Teams: Spain, Samoa, Fiji, Brazil
How they qualified: Fiji and Brazil secured their place in England by winning regional qualifying – the South Americans making history in the process. WXV 3 winners Spain and runners-up Samoa, meanwhile, joined them thanks to their performance in the United Arab Emirates.
Team to avoid: Ranked 13th in the world and having won seven successive Rugby Europe Women’s Championship titles, as well as their maiden WXV 3 crown, Spain will be confident of causing an upset or two in England. Las Leonas will take extra motivation from the fact the World Cup will be popular prop Laura Delgado’s final tournament in national colours.
That said, few teams will fancy playing either Samoa or Fiji, who have proven they can mix it with the best on their day.
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