England outclass Canada to lift Rugby Women’s World Cup

England delivered the victory their incredible form demanded on Saturday when they outclassed Canada 33-13 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.

England 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.

This time, however, they made no mistake, racing to a 21-8 halftime lead, defending well when they had to, then finishing strongly to extend their record winning run to 33 games.

It followed World Cup wins in 2014 and 1994 and helped to bury the pain of six final defeats, including the last two tournaments.

Canada, appearing in their second final after losing that 2014 decider, were unable to reproduce the pace and aggression that stunned New Zealand in the semi-finals and had no answer to England’s relentless assaults. For England, but also for the whole of women’s rugby, it was a wonderful occasion to cap off a tournament that has dwarfed the nine that came before.

Around 50,000 fans filed into Twickenham early to see New Zealand beat France 42-26 in the Bronze final and by the time the teams ran out for the main event the biggest crowd by far to watch a women’s rugby match were at fever pitch.

The air went out of the balloon somewhat after five minutes as Canada, who had to crowd-fund their trip, stole a lineout and sent Asia Hogan-Rochester over for the opening try.

It proved only the briefest of blips, however, as England recovered and quickly stamped their authority on the match.

They hit back three minutes later through their sharpest attacker and the crowd’s darling - world player of the year Ellie Kildunne - who scythed through four defenders to score a trademark try under the posts.

Reuters