Rugby World Cup 2021 - Symbol
Sign up for the latest news and ticket information.
Sign Up
Worldwide Partners
Worldwide Partners
Rugby World Cup 2021 - Symbol Rugby World Cup 2021 - Symbol Rugby World Cup 2021 - Logo
Listen Live
  • Matches
  • Knockouts
  • VIDEO
  • Store
  • Video
  • Matches
  • Knockouts
  • Teams
  • Stats
  • Store
  • Play Predictor
  • Play Dream Team
  • Where to watch
  • News
  • Officials
  • Visit
  • POI
  • Official App
  • About RWC 2021
  • Hospitality
  • Sustainability
  • ChildFund Rugby
  • Media
  • Qualifying
  • Women In Rugby
  • Contact us
  • ← Rugby World Cup
  • ← World.Rugby
Website language
English
  • English
  • Français
  • Español
  • 日本語
Website language
English
  • English
  • Français
  • Español
  • 日本語
  • Play Predictor
  • Play Dream Team
  • Where to watch
  • News
  • Officials
  • Visit
  • POI
  • Official App
  • About RWC 2021
  • Hospitality
  • Sustainability
  • ChildFund Rugby
  • Media
  • Qualifying
  • Women In Rugby
  • Contact us
  • ← Rugby World Cup
  • ← World.Rugby

Our Social Channels

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
Latest News
England v France - TikTok Women's Six Nations

Women in Rugby

Jessy Trémoulière's message to the next generation

Fly-half and full-back Jessy Trémoulière brought the curtain down on an exceptional career after her 78th and final cap against England in the TikTok Women’s Six Nations 2023. But before leaving the world stage, she wanted to pass on one last message to her team-mates.
Thu 4 May, 2023
· 5 min read
Eden Park

RWC 2021 Media Services

Venues Info

Mon 17 April, 2023
RWC 2021 Brand Mark

RWC 2021 Media Services

Resources and Toolkits

Mon 17 April, 2023
Childfund Cointoss NZL-ENG

RWC 2021 Media Services

Partners

Mon 17 April, 2023
World Rugby logo - one to use for generic releases

RWC 2021 Media Services

Contacts

Mon 17 April, 2023
Latest Videos
Best Moments Of The Tournament
03:01 mins

Best Moments Of The Tournament

Fri 18 November, 2022
RWC Best Scrums
02:16 mins

RWC Best Scrums

Fri 18 November, 2022
RWC Best Offloads
02:33 mins

RWC Best Offloads

Fri 18 November, 2022
RWC Best Kicks, Steps, Dummies
04:01 mins

RWC Best Kicks, Steps, Dummies

Fri 18 November, 2022
RWC Top Speedsters
01:31 mins

RWC Top Speedsters

Fri 18 November, 2022
RWC 2021
Monday 05 September, 2022
· 2 min read

England and France lay down a marker for Rugby World Cup 2021

Presented By
With just over one month to go before the tournament in New Zealand gets underway on 8 October, Europe’s two most dominant teams enjoyed big wins in the latest round of warm-up matches.
  • label.share.via_facebook_messenger
  • label.share.via_whatsapp
  • label.share.via_facebook
  • label.share.via_twitter
  • label.share.via_copy
    URL Copied

Momentum is firmly behind pre-Rugby World Cup 2021 favourites England after they extended their winning run to 24 tests – a record for matches involving full World Rugby member teams – with a 52-14 win over USA in front of another five-figure crowd at Sandy Park in Exeter.

10,907 fans turned out on Saturday to see Simon Middleton’s side show just why they are highly fancied to sweep all before them in New Zealand and be crowned world champions for a third time, having previously lifted the trophy in 1994 and 2014.

Jess Breach, Claudia MacDonald and Amy Cokayne scored twice each, with Natasha Hunt and Ellie Kildunne also touching down.

At one point the Red Roses led 45-0 but yellow cards a couple of minutes apart to Shaunagh Brown and Helena Rowland midway through the final quarter slowed progress and allowed the Women’s Eagles to score two consolation tries.

Prop Hope Rogers maintained her prolific try-scoring rate of late with the first before Rob Cain’s team were awarded a penalty try late on.

England's second Rugby World Cup 2021 warm-up match is against Wales in Bristol on 14 September and head coach Simon Middleton will announce his 32-player squad six days later.

The Red Roses are in Pool C at RWC 2021, with fixtures against France, South Africa and Fiji to come.

The Exeter match was USA’s last hit-out before they take their place alongside Canada, Italy and Japan in Pool B and came on the back of a 21-17 confidence-building win against Scotland the week before.

“We always knew the final score may not be in our favour but there were a lot of small successes throughout the whole match – at scrum time and lineout time, I think you saw the growth and the work we put in the last few weeks in camp,” said Women’s Eagles captain Kate Zachary.

Tale of two halves for France 

Meanwhile, France’s imperious record against Italy on home soil continued in Nice with Les Bleues enjoying a 21-0 win at Stade des Arboras.

All of the home side's points came in the first half an hour thanks to three converted tries from Laure Sansus, Celine Ferer and Annaëlle Deshayes

It was Italy’s 11th straight defeat in the fixture and the sixth time in eight visits to France that they have been kept scoreless by Les Bleues.

Neither of the weekend’s results had any impact on the World Rugby Women’s Rankings powered by Capgemini given that both England and France were expected to beat lower-ranked opposition even before home advantage was factored in.

So with only four warm-up tests to go before the big kick-off in Auckland on 8 October, the Red Roses will more than likely head to Rugby World Cup 2021 with a sizeable lead at the top of the rankings.

It was a different story ahead of the 2017 tournament, which New Zealand went on to win after a brilliant 41-32 victory against England in the final in Belfast, when less than half a point separated the Red Roses from their rivals.

England’s current history-making run, which dates back to a defeat to the Black Ferns in July 2019, has helped the Red Roses put clear water between themselves and the chasing pack in the lead-up to the latest edition of the tournament.

As things stand, England have a 7.20-point advantage over reigning world champions New Zealand with France a further 1.66 points adrift.

England are number one in the rankings on 96.78 points – 4.32 more points than they had with a month to go to RWC 2017 – while New Zealand have 2.41 points fewer this time around.

Related News
Nadine Roos in action for South Africa

Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022

Nadine Roos hoping to make a statement for gran and South Africa at Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022

Ahead of RWC Sevens 2022 in Cape Town we spoke to one of the hosts’ stars about overcoming adversity and making the grandmother who raised her proud.
Fri 2 September, 2022
· 3 min read
Rugby World Cup 2021 - Logo

Teams

Video

News

Volunteer

Tickets

  • Rugby World Cup Limited © 2007 - 2023. All Rights Reserved.
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Cookies Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Rugby World Cup
  • World Rugby Media Zone