World champions, cowgirls and women supporting women. For the second time this summer, England's women have brought home another piece of silverware. This time, the Red Roses (England's women's rugby union national team) have lifted the World Cup trophy to the second biggest crowd in a Rugby World Cup final ever. Women's sport is on a high - let's keep it there.
Exactly two months to the day after the Lionesses brought home their second Euros title in July, the Red Roses have smashed their campaign to do the same in the 2025 RWC for the first time since 2014. Rugby fever has spread across the country, from Newcastle and Northampton, right to our very own back door, as the quarter-finals and semi-finals for this tournament were hosted at Ashton Gate Stadium, home to the Bristol Bears.
The Roses have won the Guinness Women’s Six Nations 13 times and become World Champions for the third time. Their historic successes prove, yet again, that women belong in professional sport - to sold-out stadiums. The Red Roses vs Canada final at Twickenham, was the second biggest attendance of a RWC final ever for both men and women. Not only that, when I went to the semi-final game against France, Ashton Gate was filled with both men and women – England is England and rugby is for everyone. I am so proud to be a woman, so proud to be part of this in my own small way, and so proud to be English. This feeling is rare - and I'm soaking it all in.
The Women’s Rugby World Cup only started in 1991, and only England, New Zealand and the USA have ever won it. In this new space incredible new audiences and investment, we need to remember where women's sport started: with those players who we don't see on our TVs. This isn't just about England, this is about rugby growing globally and for everyone to have access to it.
Since going fully-professional in 2019, the Red Roses entered this 2025 home tournament with the momentum of the Lionesses back-to-back Euros victory in July, and now they are World Champions under World Coach of the Year (2025) John Mitchell. Globally, women make up a quarter of rugby players for the first time. In the words of Hannah Botterman in her Instagram post following the Red Roses’ semi-final victory, ‘Bristol you were outstanding, everything this game needed is happening now’.
Although, sadly, most of the noise surrounding this tournament is that the teams are women’s and not men’s, it is starting important conversations about equality. As Ellie Kildunne, 15s Player of the Year and Six Nations Player of the Championship in 2024, explained in an interview with Women’s Health about the importance of women being strong outside of sport: 'your body is your tool [...] it takes a lot of hard work to get muscle [...] body type is different in every single person - that's one of the things I love most about rugby'.
On the Red Roses’ Instagram, they posted a photo of a piece of paper where two fans had drawn a rose, and written, 'thank you for showing the world that different bodies can be strong and beautiful'. These words are so powerful – this RWC is changing so much beyond the game.
These women have fought and sacrificed for funding, training and for their dreams and finally, all eyes are on them. Like the Lionesses, many of the Red Roses have had to hold full-time jobs in addition to training to fund their rugby careers. Alex Matthews said in her interview with England Rugby that she didn’t expect women’s rugby to be professional in her lifetime, but their futures have been secure since 2019 as a fully professional squad. Even Canada, England's opponents in this RWC final, are not a completely professional team and crowd-funded almost $700,000 to get here. This serves as a stark reminder of how steep the inequality within rugby still is. Every colour of shirt has given everything to be the rolemodel that they wish they'd seen growing up. Their stories, such as that of Abi Burton, Emma Wassel, Abby Dow, Rose Galligan are a testament to how much it means to play for their countries.
Women supporting Women
The camaraderie between different women's sports over this summer is further evidence to the incredible culture and pride that is fostered throughout all disciplines of women's sport.
Before the first game of this World Cup even kicked off, the upcoming tournament has been frequently shouted out by the Lionesses on their group and personal Instagram alike. At the end of their 2025 Euros campaign, captain Leah Williamson posted a video to the Lionesses’ Instagram handing over to the Red Roses ahead of this home RWC – which kicked off a month later. Similarly, after their victory, the Red Roses' Meg Jones posted a video handing over to England women's cricket team who are competing in the ODI World Cup.
Both the Lionesses and the Red Roses know what it is to host a major tournament, as the 2022 Euros was hosted by England, and, with home advantage, the Lionesses brought it home at Wembley – similarly to the Red Roses, who battled to bring it home at Twickenham and lifted the trophy in front of a world-record breaking 81, 885-strong crowd for women's rugby with 5.8 million watching at home.
One of the Lionesses' own, Chloe Kelly, attended the Red Roses group match against Samoa, spoke on the BBC broadcast, and visited the players in the changing rooms afterwards. Mary Earps attended the Red Roses’ quarter-final and narrated ‘The Red Roses Destiny’ on the streets of Bristol and on the Red Roses social media. The Roses have referenced Kelly’s iconic hitch kick in their training; the synergy between these teams interlinking different sports in order for women to be seen more in the sports industry is beyond inspiring. They are not fighting for audiences, but uniting them. In the words of Lioness manager Sarina Wiegman, ‘sport should always unite and never divide’. The world is seeing them work together.
Everyone watches women's sports
In an interview with Women’s Health, Ellie Kildunne said how fantastic it is that people are falling in love with the girls for their online personalities and lifestyle, and watching rugby as an extension of that, thus discovering the sport that way.
A lot of professional athletes have started making content about and alongside their training: stirring more exposure in their sports, promoting their own marketability as well as maximising their income (a concern that remains even in professional leagues), with names like Ilona Maher, the most followed rugby player in the world, jumping to mind. So many podcasts are being created by female athletes, notably, 'Rugby Rodeo' hosted by Ellie Kildunne and Jess Breach. This does wonders for growing rugby in young girls who might not have interacted with it before.
As with the Lionesses’ success boosting grassroots football, the RWC being hosted in Bristol means that international fans have flooded to Ashton Gate and packed out fan zones.
Rugby is already hugely popular in Bristol, with the Bristol Bears teams finishing 4th and 2nd in the men's and women's Premierships last year. The Bears have contributed four girls to the England squad - Hannah Botterman, Sarah Bern, Abby Ward and Lark Atkin-Davies.
The University of Bristol Rugby Club and the Bristol Bears started a partnership last year to enhance both the men’s and women’s performances, which was an important step towards equality in university sport. They have used this in their social media campaign over last summer to recruit new players off the back of the buzz around the international game coming home.
The Red Roses' track record, of being number one in the world riding off the back of another Six Nation grand slam victory, becoming world champions seems inevitable from the outside. However, their heart-breaking defeat three years ago in the last seven minutes of the 2021 World Cup final against New Zealand says something else. This victory has not only lain to rest the ghosts of the 2022 campaign, but also stoked the incredible new-found support for women's sport this summer. The summer of England women.
What makes this so special is that, in the world's current climate, where progress is often slow and negativity crowds headlines, it's easy to forget how far we have come. Progress is happening now and for the better: we are getting closer every day to a world where women and girls have access, opportunity and choice in every part of their lives.
Featured Image: Instagram | @redrosesinstagram
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