Red Roses the team to beat in World Cup that could redefine rugby

Perhaps they should call it the Eden Project. The best team in the world, hoping to affirm their exalted status in front of a passionate audience at Auckland’s Eden Park on 12 November. And, in the process, helping to raise the profile of women’s rugby to fresh heights. The next six weeks, in all sorts of ways, could redefine how millions perceive rugby and those who play it.

No biggie, then. Just a World Cup that, given a fair North Island breeze, could conceivably reach parts that other tournaments have failed to reach. Anyone who witnessed the spiralling profile of England’s Lionesses as they advanced towards their Euros success in July knows these are unprecedented times for female sport. Starting this weekend it is rugby’s turn to join the overdue party.

Admittedly there are one or two possible obstacles. Only the real diehards are going to be leaping out of bed at 4.45am in the UK to watch the favourites England kick off against Fiji this Saturday. And will anyone be good enough to rein in the all-conquering Red Roses, a team so good they have won their past 25 Tests on the trot? One-sided processions in the middle of the night are not an obvious recipe for a European box office smash.

But then listen up to Sally Horrox, World Rugby’s director of women’s rugby, hailing this as the “start of the next stage of the growth and transformation of the game”. Or start seeing it through the excited eyes of the many players who, following last year’s Covid-related postponement, have had to wait an extra year for this potentially life-enhancing opportunity. “Where women’s rugby is now is just crazy compared to the first World Cup I played in,” says Sarah Hunter, England’s captain, as she prepares to feature in her fourth