Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025: Where to watch USA, Ilona Maher take on England

The Ladies’s Rugby World Cup bought underway on Friday with England’s 69-7 drubbing of the US.

Few gave the US an opportunity to win the opener, not to mention to even preserve issues shut towards the host nation. England proved the prognosticators proper with its lopsided overcome the People, constructing a 14-0 lead earlier than Group USA scored its first attempt to working away with the match from there.

England shortly jumped into pole place to win Pool A, and Ellie Kildunne and Jess Breach led the cost with two tries apiece. Erica Jarrell-Searcy put Group USA on the board together with her Twenty fifth-minute attempt, however that was all of the underdogs may muster towards the world’s No. 1-ranked crew.

The People, now going through an uphill battle to advance out of their pool, nonetheless have an opportunity to rebound and construct on the momentum of the Paris Olympics, which noticed the nation seize a bronze medal on the again of one of many Olympics’ most viral moments: Alex Sedrick’s last-second run for what proved to be the game-winning attempt. Sedrick isn’t a member of the USA’s World Cup squad, however Ilona Maher, the game’s different star who grew to become an Olympic sensation final summer time, is on the roster.

Olympic rugby is a distinct variation of the sport, known as rugby sevens, which options seven gamers per facet in a a lot shorter match. The World Cup is a rugby union event, with 15 gamers per facet on the pitch.

The occasion, which takes place each 4 years, is the primary because the “2021” version, which was held in 2022 as a result of COVID-19 pandemic. England made it to the finals of the final event however misplaced to New Zealand, 34-31, in a hard-fought championship. The US did make it out of pool play however misplaced to Canada within the quarterfinals.

The finals of the World Cup will likely be performed at 11 a.m. ET on Sept. 27.

How the Ladies’s Rugby World Cup works

The 16 qualifying groups are cut up into 4 swimming pools of 4. Spherical robin play in every pool determines the primary and second-place groups, who advance to a single-elimination knockout spherical.

Two quarterfinal matches will likely be held on Sept. 13, with the opposite two on Sept. 14. The semifinals then happen on Sept. 19 and 20 earlier than the championship and bronze medal matches on Sept. 27.

What groups are within the Ladies’s Rugby World Cup?

When are the USA’s matches and the place can I watch?

The US gained the primary occasion in 1991, going undefeated within the event earlier than defeating England, 19-6, within the finals. Group USA then had back-to-back second place finishes in 1994 and 1998 however has not reached the rostrum since.

Here’s a have a look at America’s three pool play matches, occasions and the way to watch.

• Closing: England 69, USA 7
• USA vs. Australia — Saturday, Aug. 30, 2:30 p.m. ET, Paramount+
• USA vs. Samoa — Saturday, Sept. 6, 8:30 a.m. ET, CBS and Paramount+

What are the foundations of rugby union?

The Ladies’s Rugby World Cup is a rugby union event, pitting 15 gamers from either side on the pitch at a time towards one another in 80-minute video games performed over two 40-minute halves.

Gamers try to advance the ball up the pitch through the use of solely sideways or backward passes, whereas the defending crew makes an attempt to regain management of the ball and should solely make tackles beneath the shoulders and with an precise try to wrap their arms round an offensive participant.

When a participant advances the ball into the tryzone (the equal of American soccer’s endzone), they have to contact the ball to the bottom, scoring a “attempt,” value 5 factors. The scoring crew is then given the possibility at a conversion kick by the posts for an extra two factors.

Groups may rating with a drop kick by the posts, value three factors, or if awarded a penalty kick, additionally value three factors.

For a extra detailed breakdown of union rugby guidelines, check out this video from USA Rugby.

Who’re the betting favorites to win the Ladies’s Rugby World Cup?

England is the clear betting favorites to take dwelling the World Cup, and the truth that the nation is internet hosting in all probability does not harm both. New Zealand has gained six of the final seven occasions, however England has been there each step of the best way as nicely. The crew solely missed the championship match as soon as, in 1998, but it surely managed a third-place completed that yr. England gained the occasion in 1994 and 2014.

This is a have a look at the complete odds for every crew, per DraftKings, getting into the occasion.