Women's Rugby World Cup 2017 preview: Confident England looking to cap golden summer of women's sport
The defending champions have arrived in Ireland on the verge of greatness once again - but could find a determined New Zealand side standing in their way
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Your support makes all the difference.England arrive in Dublin in such a confident mood, they do not need the luck of the Irish to hold on to their world crown. Of course, any little bit of help along the way will be welcome for Simon Middleton’s team, but with a Six Nations Grand Slam and a victory over New Zealand in the bag in the last five months, you can’t help but feel there’s something great about this squad.
The defending world champions kick-off the third major women’s event over the last two months hoping to emulate the success that the nation’s cricketers enjoyed at the World Cup in July, with the European Championships sandwiched in-between seeing the Lionesses make it to the last four before suffering an agonising defeat by the Netherlands.
For both of those teams, there were no hiccups along the way, and that’s probably going to be how the Women’s Rugby World Cup plays out, given that Middleton has decided to leave star player Emily Scarratt and 124-cap veteran Rochelle Clark out of the starting XV for their opening fixture.
“We have a strong squad and want to use the full depth available to us throughout the World Cup,” Middleton said on Tuesday. “We are looking forward to getting the tournament under way.”
England raise the curtain against Spain at the UCD Bowl on Wednesday afternoon in what will be a feast of rugby – six matches taking place on day one and indeed every matchday until the final on the evening of Saturday 26 August in Belfast. If all goes according to plan, it’ll be England and New Zealand who fill that final at Ulster’s Kingspan Stadium in a repeat of their clash fewer than two months ago.
It came as the preamble for the British and Irish Lions’ tour match against the Maori All Blacks in Rotorua, a 29-21 victory that sent England to the top of the world rankings where they sit today.
However, there will not be a moment where England are allowed to rest on their laurels and allow the memories of that famous victory – a first on Kiwi soil in 16 years – or the 2014 Rugby World Cup success to take over. That’s the message from captain Sarah Hunter, who will lead out the Red Roses to kick-off the tournament.
"We are reigning champions, but that has been and gone," the 93-cap skipper told World Rugby.
"We are very proud of that and we have achieved that, but this is a new squad in terms of players and management.
"To win a Grand Slam and to go down to New Zealand (and win), we have obviously had to perform. But we are very aware that we are not the finished article yet, and there are always areas we want to improve on in every game.”
Hunter will be one of 11 players to be returning to the World Cup, with a dozen in line to taste the global gathering for the very first time. That’s not to say that England are inexperienced – both full-back Danielle Waterman and inside-centre Rachael Burford will be appearing at their fourth consecutive World Cup – but there are seven women with fewer than 20 caps in the matchday squad that will not be used to anything like this.
They will need to hit the ground running if England are to live up to their billing as tournament favourites, given the Black Ferns will be champing at the bit to make up for this summer’s defeat – not to mention the 2014 semi-final failure. That loss came to Canada, who will again be in the mix, while a rapidly improving Australia side take on hosts Ireland on the opening day in what could prove to be one of the matches of the tournament.
"This is probably the most competitive World Cup I have been involved in,” Hunter adds. "The standard of women's rugby has grown and grown and grown. That's brilliant. As an international player, you want every game to be competitive and to have to play at your best to get the result you need.
"I think it will be a fantastic showcase of the women's game."
Wednesday’s fixtures:
England vs Spain (UCD Bowl, Dublin), 14:00
New Zealand vs Wales (Billings Park UCD, Dublin), 14:45
USA vs Italy (UCD Bowl, Dublin), 16:30
Canada vs Hong Kong (Billings Park UCD, Dublin), 17:15
Ireland vs Australia (UCD Bowl, Dublin), 19:00
France vs Japan (Billings Park UCD, Dublin), 19:45
How does the tournament work?
The 12 teams are split into three Pools of four, with each team playing each other once.
They are then ranked from one to 12, with the top four competing for a place in the final, the 5-8 place teams competing against one another and the 9-12 ranked teams battling for the final positions.
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