With England flying and America struggling, the Women’s Rugby World Cup is certainly living up to its hype.
England got their campaign off to a flyer when they beat Fiji 84-19 over the weekend. The tournament favourites have set the standards for the others to follow, but it wasn’t all plain sailing for the Red Roses.
The Women’s Rugby Show host Sam Bytheway is out in New Zealand covering the competition and said Fiji made it a difficult affair.
“They were rattled. It was 24-14 in the first half and I think they were dragged down into playing the Rugby Fiji wanted to.
“But in the second half though they [England] blew them [Fiji] away. Fiji is one of the best teams in the world at open play rugby so its something that they won’t have to deal with again.
“But the way England blew Fiji away in the second half, for England to pull away when they’re not really in second gear, not really got going, it was really impressive.”
One side that has turned a lot of heads is Canada. They started off their tournament with a devastating 41-5 win over Japan.
Coach Kevin Rouet didn’t get too carried away after his sides dominant performance.
“It was not a pretty game, we did the game plan at the beginning. After that I think we could have done a better job. But it’s just a win.”
Sam Bytheway claimed they have the potential to be a real dark horse.
One team that didn’t perform as well as they would have liked was France. Even though they beat South Africa 40-5, it wasn’t all convincing.
“South Africa aren’t like they are in the men’s game. France are the second best team in the world and they struggled against their physicality.
“It will worry them going into games against England this coming week, as well as further stages of the competition.”
Another team who disappointed in the first round of fixtures is the USA, as they lost 22-10 to Italy.
“For the USA, the odds were 50/50 and the manner of their defeat was disappointing. Their coach raved in the build up to the tournament about their line out and how its been revolutionised, but they we’re really disappointing”
With the growth of women’s sport expanding at such a rate, the tournament could be a huge boost in the popularity of women’s rugby.
“The first game was sold out, 40,000 tickets sold and that’s huge for women’s rugby. Heading forward to 2025 the world cup is being held in England and if the Red Roses do win the tournament, it is just going to grow and grow.”
England face France in what could be their hardest game of the competition this weekend which most defiantly won’t be an affair to miss.
You can watch the full interview below:
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