Women's Rugby World Cup fever is definitely catching. Not only are teams tuning up all over the globe but players are grabbing headlines on and off the pitch, here is all you need to know about the biggest celebration of the sport ever:
1. Final chance to catch Rugby World Cup Trophy on tour
Seven host city destinations down, just one to go as the Rugby World Cup 2025 Trophy Tour enters its final throes.
On Friday, 6 June - 77 days before England v USA kicks the tournament off in the city's Stadium of Light - the prize they will all be chasing goes on display in Sunderland's Keel Square.
Get there if you can, it has been a riot so far. Last week, the dazzling new trophy was first in Northampton:
Then Manchester:
And finally York:
2. Join the fun as ticket sales pass 300,000 mark
The message is clear: get your RWC 2025 tickets now.
A remarkable 300,000-plus have already been sold and now organisers are confident of a record-breaking tournament.
"We’ve seen great ticket sales across-the-board in every single venue and we know momentum is building across our eight iconic host locations and their communities. It really is going to be incredible," Managing Director of the Women’s World Cup, Sarah Massey said in a recent interview.
Sally Horrox, the Chief of Women’s Rugby at World Rugby, could not agree more, "I keep saying it, but it is the biggest global celebration of women’s rugby ever. We just want to harness the power, influence and growth of the women’s game into this competition and take women’s rugby to the next level.”
3. England, Ireland & Scotland name RWC 2025 training squads
It is getting ever closer, with the dream now almost a reality for a host of players.
Forty-two of them have been selected as part of England's Rugby World Cup 2025 player training squad, with Emily Scarratt the standout story. The 118-cap centre, who led England to glory in 2014 with a player-of-the-final performance, is edging towards a record-equalling fifth World Cup.
Check out the full list here.
Those in the emerald green of Ireland would love a taste of such success and head coach Scott Bemand has named the 37 he believes have the potential to deliver it.
The roster includes influential co-captain Sam Monaghan, who missed this season's Six Nations and last year's WXV1 campaign with a knee injury. While Olympic sevens player Beibhinn Parsons also makes it, despite breaking her leg twice in the space of four months last year. More info here.
Meanwhile, Scotland head Coach Bryan Easson has selected four uncapped players in his 38-strong extended squad.
The quartet of Alia Ronald, Hannah Ramsay, Hannah Walker and Meg Varley will be hoping to impress between now and early August when final squads of up to 32 players will be named.
4. Classy Japan crowned Asian champions
Japan continued their RWC 2025 warm-up in fine style, by conquering Asia once more.
For the fourth consecutive time, the Sakura 15s dominated the Asia Rugby Emirates Women's Championship. The team scored an impressive 153 points and conceded just five, as they brushed aside Kazakhstan and Hong Kong China.
Sterner tests await for the team drawn alongside RWC defending champions New Zealand in Pool C, but the likes of winger Natsuki Ouchida - top try scorer in the Asia Championships - will not fear anyone.
Next up, Spain in a back-to-back double-header, 19 and 26 July.
5. World Cup rivals Fiji & Samoa go head-to-head
Everywhere you look final Rugby World Cup preparations are in full swing and it is no different in the Pacific Islands.
Ahead of their second and third tournament appearances respectively, Fiji and Samoa will face off on 6 June in the opening match of the 2025 Oceania Cup.
The neighbours have history in the tournament, with Samoa claiming a first ever Oceania Cup title in 2023 by beating Fiji by a point before the Fijians reversed the result in last season's crunch Cup match.
Fiji will be hoping to reproduce the sort of form that lit up RWC 2021:
6. Ilona Maher swaps pitch for catwalk
USA rugby star Ilona Maher continues to make waves on and off the rugby pitch.
Fresh from performing in the 2025 Pacific Four Series, Maher headed to Miami, becoming one of Sports Illustrated's most famous Swimsuit models.
The Paris 2024 Olympic women's sevens bronze medallist and her legions of fans are hoping Maher will make her RWC debut versus England on 22 August.
7. Player spotlight: USA Eagles legend Kate Zackary
Not many players appear in three Rugby World Cups and an Olympic Games, but then again, there are not many Kate Zackarys around.
Aged 35, the back-row forward has been shining on the international stage for a decade. Part of the squads that finished fourth at both the 2017 15-a-side RWC and the 2018 7-a-side version, Zackary is looking to crown her career in England this summer.
Look out for plenty more of the power and pace on display at the recent Pacific Four Series:
8. Team spotlight: consistent contenders France
Could this be the year for France?
Perennial powerhouses, the team in blue have finished third a record seven times at Rugby World Cups - including in the past three tournaments in succession.
Currently ranked fourth in the world, the French were mighty close to handing world No.1 England a first defeat in 25 matches in this year's Six Nations.
And if the likes of star winger Joanna Grisez - whose score below was voted the Six Nations Try of the Tournament - continue to shine, perhaps it will be France who spoil the host's party.
9. Rugby World Cup Replay: Harvey turns on the gas
There is nothing better than a length-of-the-field try when it really matters and here is one of the finest from the Rugby World Cup 2014 semi-finals.
Pinned on their own try line by France, Canada broke free, shifted the ball swiftly to Magali Harvey and the woman who would go on to be crowned the 2014 World Rugby Women Player of the year did the rest.
The fact it - along with two Harvey penalties and a conversion - helped secure a nail-biting 18-16 Canada win only adds to the legend.
