The talking will stop and the sport get under way on Friday night when the Red Roses raise the curtain on the most anticipated women’s rugby tournament of all time. The USA are first in line at the 2025 Rugby World Cup to try to upset the world No 1 team, but if recent history is anything to go by it will be England striding to a dominant win.
The two sides have played 21 times and the US have won one – the 1991 World Cup final. In 2025, the USA have played six games and won one, 31-24 against Fiji. England have played seven matches in this calendar year and have won all of them, extending their unbeaten run to 27 matches.
While those predicting point to a big Red Roses win, the team are not getting caught up in the hype. The scrum-half Natasha “Mo” Hunt, who will play at the Stadium of Light in her first World Cup game since 2017, said: “I am absolutely buzzing, but ultimately it is just another game of rugby, as exciting as it is. All of the buildup, all of the branding, the tunnel is epic. Everything about it is so cool, but when we come to it tomorrow it is just another game.
“That is our mindset going into it. Probably the thing I have learned as I have gone through my career is you can’t make it any bigger than it is because that is when you get carried away.
“It means an awful lot for me to be here, but I have already done that when I was saying bye to my family. Getting on the bus they came to wave me off, that is when I had the moment. Right now, this is the bit that I love and I can’t wait to go out and fight with the girls.”
While the spotlight is on England in their home tournament, a large portion of it will be shared by the most followed rugby player in the USA’s Ilona Maher. The outside-centre, who has 8.8m followers on Instagram and TikTok, and competed in Dancing with the Stars last year, will be opposite the Cardiff-born Megan Jones.
Many eyes will be on the US star but Jones is unbothered by the match-up: “Physics would show she’s probably got a couple of inches on me and a couple of pounds as well, but I’ve always lived by, it’s not the size of the dog, it’s the size of the fight of the dog.
“No matter who I come up against, no matter how many followers they’ve got, she’ll be thinking the same, it’s how you perform on the pitch which is the most important bit. I always lead with passion and pride and that’s what I’ll continue to do in whatever game we go against and whoever we go against.”
Maher described the challenge as “exciting” and added: “We know what they are going to bring. There are threats everywhere. It’s going to be fun.”
She was asked what success will look like for the USA and said: “Sometimes we can be our own worst enemies. We can be a world-class team. We talk a lot about gamechangers and we are a team that is changing the game on and off the field a lot.
“This is a time where women’s rugby is in a state where it could grow massively and I do believe this team is at the forefront with how we present ourselves and people’s perception of us. We want more people to have eyes on the game and it will be great to see more stadiums sold out.”
While Sunderland’s Stadium of Light is not yet sold out, ticket sales outstrip the attendance for the 2022 final. At least 43,000 have been sold for the match; 42,579 watched the Black Ferns beat England at Eden Park three years ago.
The England defence coach, Sarah Hunter, played at the last home World Cup for the Red Roses in 2010 and is blown away by the game’s progress in a short amount of time. “Seeing how the game has grown, to know that these girls are playing on the biggest stage, it’s exactly where the game should be,” she said.
“That is great to see that growth, 43,000 plus, which is bigger than any women’s rugby World Cup game has ever seen, that is the exciting thing. To go and watch them be them, be what they have been for these three years and have a back seat to watch them do it.”
