News

The Women’s Rugby World Cup as it stands…

In news that will come as little surprise to many women’s rugby fans, both New Zealand and England have topped their pools (Pool A and Pool C respectively) and will be heading into the next stages of the competition as favourites to make the final. Meanwhile Canada, helped by the tournament’s top try scorer, Emily Tuttosi, finish top of Pool B.

Canada’s Tuttosi might be blazing the way as top try scorer, but when it comes to a defensive effort, home nations Wales and Scotland have shown their strength, with their players occupying the five top spots for most tackles made. Welsh star Alex Callendar has made a phenomenal 62 tackles and is closely followed by Scotland’s Emma Wassell with 59, and Rachel Malcolm with 58. England’s players on the other hand have had a far easier ride defensively, with not a single player making more than 34 tackles so far in the tournament. That’s not to say there won’t be some very sore bodies amongst the Red Roses squad though!

Unfortunately, despite the colossal number of tackles made by Scotland, the team haven’t been able to replicate this dominance in attack and will not progress to the next stages of the competition.

 

Looking ahead to the weekend and the quarter finals, France will take on Italy at 4:30am this Saturday, before defending champions New Zealand take on Wales at 7:30am. The earlier fixture will mark a historic moment for the Italian team as they progress to the quarter finals for the very first time after beating Japan 21-8.

On Sunday England will play Australia at 1:30am, and Canada face USA at 3:30am. Australia will need to be careful when it comes to their discipline, as they have already amassed four yellow cards and a red, and will no doubt be punished by England if they go down to 14, or even 13, players again.

We look forward to seeing which teams emerge victorious, and remain in contention for the final, which promises to be an epic showdown at Eden Park on 12th November.