England’s resilience rewarded as they lift Rugby World Cup

England had come agonisingly close in previous tournaments, burdened by the weight of expectation, only to watch the trophy slip from their grasp in both 2017 and 2022. But on Saturday evening, in front of the biggest women’s rugby crowd of all time, the Red Roses’s resilience was finally rewarded.

For England, this is a release from the era of near misses. For women’s rugby, it’s a statement victory for a sport in crisis on every front. Here come the women, and they bring with them sell-out crowds, unprecedented coverage and early signs of an uptick in grassroots participation for both girls and boys.

Canada, the second-highest ranked team in the world, crowdfunded their way to the World Cup and pushed England, the richest team in the world, all the way to the last moment of this final. The gap between first and second place in the World Rugby rankings is 5.9 points, but financially it’s a vast expanse. The RFU invested £28.7m into its national men’s and women’s team, Canada’s figure is £4.5m. Their spirit here has been a reminder of rugby’s soul and amateur-era roots.

The game, at its best, is not about resilience, not resources, and Canada’s fearless quest to challenge the Red Roses reminded us of it. It wasn’t a faultless triumph for the Red Roses, but it was a regaining of authority. This was a must-win match for England. This is their 74th win in their last 76 matches, but not one of those is as important as this, a home World Cup final victory in front of 81,885 fans (the vast majority of whom were supporting England).

The most successful team in rugby’s history have broken their World Cup curse at last. And while there was plenty of heartbreak along the way, the course of true love never did run smooth. The opening moments of the match proved difficult for the Red Roses, with Canada scoring the first try of the match. England lost their first lineout in the fifth minute, which gave Canada the chance to score through the hands of winger Asia Hogan-Rochester, the first non-binary player to play in a World Cup final.

England, buoyed by the crowd’s expectation, responded two minutes later when Ellie Kildunne zipped through five defenders to score. England used their set piece as a platform to create spectacular moments, but their old-favourite try-scoring method of the lineout driving maul didn’t always fire. England’s first attempt at one was brought down by Canada, but it returned to the same corner only minutes later, for Amy Cokayne, the hooker, to score.

By half-time, England were comfortably 21-8 ahead and the nerves of the opening five minutes had settled. Canada, on the other hand, were far from the chiselled side they were on their journey here. The beauty of Canada’s game had been in their ability to recycle the ball quickly between phases.

In the semi-final, it took Canada an average of 2.4 seconds to get the ball out of the ruck, the fastest time of any rugby union team, men’s or women’s, at any World Cup ever. Here, though, passes were thrown with nobody to collect it and the communication between scrum-half Justine Pelletier and her attack became disjointed.

It took ten minutes after the break for England to score again, and the 18 points felt insurmountable for Canada. Hogan-Rochester scored again to add a jeopardy to the second half and keep the crowd engaged. But England, now with fresh power through their replacements, kept the scoreboard ticking up with tries from Abbie Ward and a second try for Alex Matthews, playing in her fourth consecutive World Cup final.

As the final whistle blew and the DJ turned the stadium into a rave, the most beautiful sight was the quiet moment between try-scorer Ward with her three-year-old daughter Hallie as mum showed daughter the World Cup trophy. After giving birth in 2018, Ward has been instrumental in the introduction for greater maternity rights for women’s rugby players, and an inspiration to mums everywhere.

It was a vision of just how impressive these athletes are, and the joy that women's sport can uniquely bring. “The last final loss, that was then,” she said after the match. “This is a new team, this is a new chapter of women’s rugby. It wasn’t about righting wrongs. This is our little moment today.

It’s about this, this team has been special, what we’ve done has been special. The support, the crowd, the friends and family involved, it's been magical.”

Back in 2014, when England won the final against Canada in Paris, the England bus was returning to its hotel when it stopped to see a pub bursting with England fans and the players’ families and friends. Katy Daley-McLean, the captain, begged the team’s management for the chance to get off the bus and have just one quick drink with the fans. As the hours clocked by, one drink turned into dozens as their bruised bodies partied until the early hours, medals still swinging around their necks.

In 1994, the only other time England won the World Cup, stories are told of Red Roses commandeering the fire engine that had arrived in response to the fire alarms that had been sounding in the party, drowned out by the music the players were dancing to.

Last night, the party had begun before England left the pitch. The stories from last night will be great. For now though, this chapter of women’s rugby has closed. It told the story of a team who fought hard for professionalism, set the standards for every other nation with world-leading investment in the women’s game, backed it up with stellar performances and, despite the heartache along the way, can finally bask in their glory. And all the sweeter it must taste for it.

Photograph by George Wood/Getty Images