The 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup is less than 12 months away and the countdown is on across England. The tournament is set to kick-off in Sunderland’s Stadium of Light on August 22nd, with the Red Roses in action in the first fixture to get the celebrations started. The excitement continues to build around the upcoming tournament, with the power of social media at the forefront.
There is no denying that women’s rugby continues to grow, with some of the sporting world’s most charismatic personalities transcending the immediate audience to garner mainstream media attention. The likes of Black Ferns wing Ruby Tui and England centre Emily Scarratt have entered the world of TV appearances and podcasting, whilst USA Sevens star Ilona Maher takes the social media game to new levels, as the one of the Paris Olympic Games’ most talked about athletes.
With less than a year to go before the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup get’s underway, the tournament’s Directing Manager Sarah Massey spoke exclusively to Ruck, about how the likes of Ilona Maher are taking women’s rugby to new heights. Now is the time to get more fans on board with the rise of women’s rugby, in hopes of packing out the stadiums across England when the tournament rolls around next August. Speaking with Ruck at the official 2025 WRWC ticket launch event, Massey said;
“It’s really important, it’s Ilona Maher as well (as Ruby Tui). She’s another one, they’ve got massive followings. It’s really interesting when you listen to them being interviewed, they know that that’s what they need to do to grow their own profile and following.
“We’re going to be having content creators with each of the teams when they are here for the Rugby World Cup, so we can do exactly that. So, how can we help those players grow their own profile, not only during the tournament, but from now leading up to the tournament as well?
“I think one other thing on that is because so many of the teams that play in PWR, those players are from some of the countries that will be playing in the Rugby World Cup. So how can we make sure that we’re raising their profile, from a domestic point of view, so that when they come back with their national teams, people know already know who they are?” undefined
World Rugby are aiming to make the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup the biggest and best tournament that the women’s game has ever witnessed. The appetite for the women’s side of the sport is definitive across the land of the Red Roses, with England’s enthusiasm for women’s rugby competing against the previous tournament hosts New Zealand.
It was in the land of the Black Ferns where the last Women’s Rugby World Cup was held, with New Zealand defeating England in a dramatic final for the overall glory. The tournament was delayed a year by the Covid-19 Pandemic, with only a three year turnaround to get the preparations ready for England ’25. Massey expressed World Rugby’s biggest learnings from the New Zealand tournament in 2022, and how the roadmap looks ahead of next August.
“There’s probably two things we were looking at what happened in New Zealand. It was groundbreaking in itself, that set lots of records. I think what we’re doing (for WRWC 2025) is getting out much earlier.”
“We’re making sure that we’re building and we’ve got the benefit of the Red Roses here, and we’ve got the benefit of the Six Nations. I think what we can do with this one, is build it much quicker, build that excitement much quicker, get tickets out on sale much quicker. As I say, Build profiles of players much more as well, so that we are one step ahead.”
“The other thing is that we’re learning, and we’re building on some of what happened in New Zealand. We don’t have triple headers (three matches on one day, at the same stadium) anymore. So they had triple headers, and we’ve really minimised our double headers. There will be a couple as you asked earlier, but predominantly, we’re going with single headers, because we think that’s where the value is, those women standalone matches.
“Different again to New Zealand, is we’re going around the country, we’re at eight different venues (in England). So we’re taking it and exposing it to lots of new fans. So, we’ve got different audiences to tap into, because we are taking it to different places.”
The 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup is set to be the biggest tournament from a logistical stand point, as the competition has been expanded from 12 to 16 competing nations. This growth is a reflection of the ongoing global development of women’s rugby, with some of the qualified nations reaching the Women’s Rugby World Cup, before they have ever managed to send a men’s team to the pinnacle competition.
For example, Colombia and Brazil have both already qualified for the upcoming tournament, with Massey delighted for the efforts of the South American duo. Neither the Colombians or Brazilians have ever made it to the Men’s Rugby World Cup, which demonstrates the unique opportunity for first time involvements, in the ever growing women’s side of the sport.
“Really that’s part of World Rugby’s global plan. So our Director of Women’s Rugby, Sally Horrox, that is what she will be doing. She works globally, she’s building women’s rugby with her team across all different countries. Where we know that we’ve got qualifiers into the World Cup, that’s when we will be working very much with those teams.
“Some of them (Brazil and Colombia included) certainly won’t have come to a World Cup before, some of them may not have even played in major competitions before. How can we support those teams that are new to the Rugby World Cup, to make sure that when they get here, they can perform and be the best they can be on this world stage. So that’s really part of our wider global women’s strategy, to build in those countries ahead of coming to the Rugby World Cup.”
The last time the Rugby World Cup was hosted in England, was when the men’s tournament lit up the nation back in 2015. The tournament is infamously remembered across the country, after England became the first host nation to be eliminated in the pool stages, after defeats to Wales and Australia sealed Stuart Lancaster’s time as head coach. However, the tournament did engage all corners of the country, with the cities getting their communities engaged with the nations that they hosted.
From Namibia finding a home in Plymouth Albion’s Brickfields stadium, to Tonga making a basecamp at Cheltenham RFC, local clubs opened their doors to the visiting teams as they underwent their preparations for their all important fixtures. Massey hopes for more of the same for this tournament a decade later, with the eyes of a nation once again turning back towards the sport.
“We’re already working on, how can we work with the schools? How can we work with the community clubs to get behind those teams. We know where the Red Roses are placed, and we know where they’re not playing as well. So, those other nations that are playing, how do we make sure that we are building knowledge about those teams.
“Are their schools programs, as we’ve got lots of the teams that will be staying in that city for a week in the lead up to a match. So, how can we make sure that we are getting some open training sessions, we’re getting some visits by players to meet with fans, again, purely for that? How do we get people in those local areas behind the teams that will be playing there? We can only do that after the pool draw for the match schedule in October.”
“We’re also learning in terms of what the players and the teams wanted. So, Rugby World Cup 2025 will be the first time that the teams will have individual team bases. So in New Zealand they had to share. But now, they are going to have their own individual team base which is a massive improvement, a big raise of standards.”