The Women’s Rugby World Cup is set to begin on Saturday morning (AEST) in England.
The Wallaroos’ opening match will be against Samoa at 9:00pm on Saturday (AEST).
You can watch every match live on Stan Sport, with selected fixtures also on Nine.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of the tournament.
Format
The tournament begins on 23 August and runs until 27 September, with England hosting all matches.
For the first time, the competition has expanded from 12 to 16 teams. Brazil is making its Rugby World Cup debut.
The format sees four pools of four teams.
Teams will play a round-robin within their pool and the top two teams from each group will advance to the quarter-finals.
Matches will be played across eight venues, including Twickenham in London, where the final is already set to host a sell-out crowd of 82,000.
In 2010, the last time England hosted the event, the final was played in front of 13,000 fans.
Wallaroos
Australia enter as the world’s sixth-ranked team. They are in Pool A, with England, the U.S, and Samoa.
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England is the world’s number one-ranked team and looms as the Wallaroos’ biggest challenge in the pool stage.
At the last World Cup in 2022, Australia was knocked out in the quarter finals by England, who went on to lose the final to hosts New Zealand.
The Wallaroos’ best-ever result at the tournament was a third-place finish in 2010.
Players to watch
Wallaroos winger Maya Stewart is the team’s most prolific try scorer, and Australia’s success at the tournament could depend on the side’s ability to give Stewart the right opportunities to cross the line.
The Wallaroos also boast the likes of teenage fullback Caitlyn Halse and back-rower Tabua Tuinakauvadra.
Halse was named one of World Rugby’s breakout players of the year in 2024, and Tuinakauvadra has been on a rapid rise, scoring a double in Australia’s last match before the tournament against Wales.
Looking at Australia’s opponents, Team USA features the world’s most followed rugby player (male or female), Ilona Maher.
She is set to make a splash at the tournament after stepping into the spotlight during Team USA’s rugby sevens campaigns at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics.
Favourites
England enter as favourites with a home crowd behind them.
The team most likely to challenge them are defending champions and six-time winners New Zealand.
Canada (world #2) and France (world #4) are also strong contenders.
