England finally delivered when it really mattered as they outclassed Canada in front of a delirious record 81,885 Twickenham crowd to win the Women’s Rugby World Cup for the third time on a memorable day for the sport.
The Red Roses came into the game having won 62 of their last 63 games spanning six years, with the glaring failure being their agonising World Cup final defeat to New Zealand in 2022 - one of six final defeats. But, this time, they were already 21-8 up at halftime. They then finished strongly to underline their status as the sport's superpower.
"These girls are awesome," said coach John Mitchell as England added to their triumphs of 1994 and 2014.
"Three years ago we set about doing something and we finally took the last few steps here. I think 2022 taught us a lot. We knew we would be good at the rugby but at the end of the day I think our culture won, with the values that have guided us to this point.
Three years ago, Ellie Kildunne scored in the third minute of the final as England raced into an early 14-0 lead, only to eventually lose 34-31. This time, though, they kept their foot on the throat and did not allow Canada, ranked second in the world, a sniff as they turned to their other point-accumulating USP, the driving maul, to send Amy Cokayne over for a second try.
The third came via the strength of number eight Alex Matthews, appearing in her fourth World Cup final and, with Zoe Harrison converting all three tries, it was 21-8 at halftime. The players ran off to a rousing rendition of “Swing Low”, albeit at a higher pitch than usual as the thousands of youngsters, particularly girls, serenaded their new heroes.
"It's frustrating for us because we know we didn't play our best game," said their coach Kevin Rouet.
"But I'm very proud of what they did, the sacrifice they made for three years just to get there. It was just missing 80 minutes of good rugby for us to be world champions."
