Women's Rugby World Cup 2025 (1 Viewer)

oscillatewildly · Friday at 10:10 PM

I know there is a niche appreciation of the sport of rugby on SBT and as we are at the semi final stages of the competition it seems a little late to start a thread on it. but..... What an absolutely fantastic performance in turning over NZ by Canada this evening.
I've struggled to embrace women's football but women's rugby is on a completely different level.
With the other semi final tomorrow - England v France, if England triumph, they have an almighty task in becoming world champions for the first time.

mmttww · Saturday at 12:11 AM

oscillatewildly said:
I've struggled to embrace women's football but women's rugby is on a completely different level.

Yeah, thought the game tonight made that point really well. Looking fwd to tmrw. Huge chance for England.

DT-R · Saturday at 1:36 AM

oscillatewildly said:
I know there is a niche appreciation of the sport of rugby on SBT and as we are at the semi final stages of the competition it seems a little late to start a thread on it. but..... What an absolutely fantastic performance in turning over NZ by Canada this evening.
I've struggled to embrace women's football but women's rugby is on a completely different level.
With the other semi final tomorrow - England v France, if England triumph, they have an almighty task in becoming world champions for the first time.

It wont be the "first time" theyll be world champions if they win..... They've won 2 world cups before. 1994 and 2014. They've been in the final 8 times. They got to the last final against New Zeland, 2021, and although had a player sent off within 10 mins, really fought with 14 players for 70mins and only narrowly lost 31-34.

In actual fact, the 2014 WC win was actually against Canada. Still their only appearance in a final if I recall correctly (excluding next week as that'll make it 2 finals).
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Otis · Saturday at 5:32 AM

DT-R said:
It wont be the "first time" theyll be world champions if they win..... They've won 2 world cups before. 1994 and 2014. They've been in the final 8 times. They got to the last final against New Zeland, 2021, and although had a player sent off within 10 mins, really fought with 14 players for 70mins and only narrowly lost 31-34.

In actual fact, the 2014 WC win was actually against Canada. Still their only appearance in a final if I recall correctly (excluding next week as that'll make it 2 finals).
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I thought he meant Canada.

StrettoBoy · Saturday at 5:49 AM

I’m looking forward to this afternoon’s match. With Kildunne and Botterman back we should overcome France by at least 15-20 points.

The final against Canada should be a cracker but if we play as we can I expect us to raise the trophy.

Otis · Saturday at 6:11 AM

StrettoBoy said:
I’m looking forward to this afternoon’s match. With Kildunne and Botterman back we should overcome France by at least 15-20 points.

The final against Canada should be a cracker but if we play as we can I expect us to raise the trophy.

Not so confident. I think we will win, but that it may well be close.

oscillatewildly · Saturday at 8:38 AM

Otis said:
I thought he meant Canada.

Nope - Hands up, I genuinely thought England Women had never been crowned champions before.

oscillatewildly · Saturday at 9:11 AM

What is it about Canada and rugby? I know they and USA have long been there in previous WC tournaments - Both Men's and Women's but I also recall a few years ago a Canadian men's team competing at either C'ship or Lg 1 level over here.
Clearly had a rich backer but that commitment to compete at a serious level (it would have been way stronger than anything in Canada) showed a genuine desire to embrace and compete within the sport.

Otis · Saturday at 10:33 AM

oscillatewildly said:
Nope - Hands up, I genuinely thought England Women had never been crowned champions before.

Oh.

Yeah, I knew, so guessed you did too.

OffenhamSkyBlue · Saturday at 10:37 AM

Yet the Canadian women's team, despite being ranked 2 or 3 in the world, had to hold a crowdfunding campaign to pay for them to come here for this tournament. They don't have a kicking coach because they can't afford to pay one - but have one of the most consistent goalkickers in the women's game (which is where it really falls short of the men's on quality - on a par with goalkeeping in women's football).
But Canada absolutely stuffed NZ last night - their speed at the ruck and the offloads when they went wide was really impressive. Sad that the BBC commentator seemed to think the only team on the pitch was NZ, saying "Oh, you don't want to poke a bear - this is far from over - NZ don't factor defeat into their game planning" and other such disrespectful bollcoks. The reason why they coughed up so many penalties and handling errors was because they were being outplayed! The only confusing thing was why they played in white tops and black shorts (versus "all black"), when their regular strip is all red! Hardly a clash!

I think England will beat France today, but after last night, i think it will be a lot closer in the final than many think.
There will be quite a few final tickets on the market this week, as the NZ fans would have bought them in advance, believing that they were a shoe-in to be there.

StrettoBoy · Saturday at 12:12 PM

Otis said:
Not so confident. I think we will win, but that it may well be close.

You may be right but I think Kildunne and Botterman - plus our strength in depth from the bench - will be the difference. I can see it being tight with us then pulling away in the final quarter.

DT-R · Saturday at 12:26 PM

Otis said:
I thought he meant Canada.

Oh, ok! I didnt read it like that. But if that's what he meant then my bad!
Canada have been to 1 final (i looked it up this morning) and it was, as i thought, in 2014 v England. They'll really want to wrong a right! And to be honest, any team that can overcome New Zeland, who have dominated the women's WC with 6 wins in 6 finals, can beat anyone on their day.

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oscillatewildly · Saturday at 1:32 PM

OffenhamSkyBlue said:
Yet the Canadian women's team, despite being ranked 2 or 3 in the world, had to hold a crowdfunding campaign to pay for them to come here for this tournament. They don't have a kicking coach because they can't afford to pay one - but have one of the most consistent goalkickers in the women's game (which is where it really falls short of the men's on quality - on a par with goalkeeping in women's football).
But Canada absolutely stuffed NZ last night - their speed at the ruck and the offloads when they went wide was really impressive. Sad that the BBC commentator seemed to think the only team on the pitch was NZ, saying "Oh, you don't want to poke a bear - this is far from over - NZ don't factor defeat into their game planning" and other such disrespectful bollcoks. The reason why they coughed up so many penalties and handling errors was because they were being outplayed! The only confusing thing was why they played in white tops and black shorts (versus "all black"), when their regular strip is all red! Hardly a clash!

I think England will beat France today, but after last night, i think it will be a lot closer in the final than many think.
There will be quite a few final tickets on the market this week, as the NZ fans would have bought them in advance, believing that they were a shoe-in to be there.

Yeah a touch of ‘hot coral syndrome’ re the choice of playing strip last night.

DT-R · Saturday at 3:38 PM

Great start! Great run from Kildunne.

Im not sure why its being played at Ashton gate though? Are there not enough Rugby grounds that couldve hosted it? Just takes me back to our pitch after the Rugby 7s and the points we were docked after they destroyed our pitch!

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Otis · Saturday at 3:57 PM

France are playing very well.

oscillatewildly · Saturday at 4:25 PM

Not the game (so far) many of us would probably have predicted.
France playing like there's a final up for grabs.
something I have noticed in this competition - An inordinate amount of forward passing.

Otis · Saturday at 4:41 PM

oscillatewildly said:
Not the game (so far) many of us would probably have predicted.
France playing like there's a final up for grabs.
something I have noticed in this competition - An inordinate amount of forward passing.

Unfortunately, I did. I had a sneaky feeling France might well win this .

Sincerely hope I am proved wrong, but only one team really playing decent passing rugby at the moment.

Otis · Saturday at 4:42 PM

Phew. Bloody needed that.

mmttww · Saturday at 4:56 PM

Abby Dow just rearranged someone's skeleton to make the line break for that try. Brilliant stuff.

oscillatewildly · Saturday at 5:07 PM

Absolutely frightening pace and solid feet.

DT-R · Saturday at 5:08 PM

When she puts them afterburners on nobody's catching her!

The score kid is of deceiving of how close the match has been! French have more than played their part!

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DT-R · Saturday at 5:19 PM

oscillatewildly said:
Not the game (so far) many of us would probably have predicted.
France playing like there's a final up for grabs.
something I have noticed in this competition - An inordinate amount of forward passing.

I think the forward passing in this tournament just gets picked out more. Its not that it happens any more or less, it just seems to be picked up.

In the men's game, anything on the borderline of lateral/marginally forward, will general be ignored if the player receiving the ball was behind the passer. If its a clear and obvious forward pass it'll be pulled up. But borderline passes (like our ruled out try at the end of the first half) in the men's game aren't generally given, to try and keep the game flowing and the scoreboard ticking over!

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oscillatewildly · Saturday at 5:21 PM

Thank god we have an early KO again next Saturday!

Macca · Saturday at 8:47 PM

I probably prefer rugby to football these days the City aside and I have to say watching England women play is a joy. Does seem to be quite a gulf in talent across the nations though but sure the gap will close

Sky_Blue_Dreamer · Saturday at 9:29 PM

Macca said:
I probably prefer rugby to football these days the City aside and I have to say watching England women play is a joy. Does seem to be quite a gulf in talent across the nations though but sure the gap will close

StrettoBoy · Sunday at 7:28 AM

StrettoBoy said:
With Kildunne and Botterman back we should overcome France by at least 15-20 points.

StrettoBoy said:
I can see it being tight with us then pulling away in the final quarter.

My predictions were correct.

It’s a miracle! My sporting predictions are always wrong

Otis · Sunday at 8:03 AM

StrettoBoy said:
My predictions were correct.

It’s a miracle! My sporting predictions are always wrong

One week I think I am a genius and the next, a chump.

DT-R · Sunday at 2:47 PM

Otis said:
One week I think I am a genius and the next, a chump.

From champ to chump! That'd be the name of my autobiography

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