Women's Rugby World Cup 2025: Everything you need to know

New Zealand won the Women's Rugby World Cup in 2022

The summer is nearly over but 2025 summer of sport still has another big tournament to offer: The Women's Rugby World Cup!

All the home nations are involved and England are the hosts this time around.

The competition is being held across eight different cities and stadiums and it all kicks off on Friday 22 August and will be finishing on Saturday 27 September.

But what else do you need to know? We've got it all right here.

Where are the Rugby World Cup matches being held?

Matches are happening all over the country

The competition is taking place in eight different locations across England:

• Sunderland

• Northampton

• Bristol

• Brighton

• York

• Exeter

• Salford

• London

The opening game will be in Sunderland, at the Stadium of Light, and the final will take place at the home of English rugby, Twickenham in London.

Which countries are taking part in the Women's Rugby World Cup?

Hosts England won the Six Nations earlier this year

There are 16 countries in this year's World Cup, split into four groups of four.

Alongside hosts England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland have all made it through to the group stages, meaning all four UK nations are going to be represented.

However, only England, the USA and New Zealand have ever gone on to win the whole thing.

The reigning champions are currently New Zealand, who beat England (otherwise known as the Red Roses) in the final of the 2022 World Cup.

However, the Red Roses haven't lost a game since - a whopping 58 match winning streak.

Ireland, Wales and Scotland are all vying for the trophy too

The pools are as follows:

Pool A

• England

• Australia

• USA

• Samoa

Pool B

• Canada

• Scotland

• Wales

• Fiji

Pool C

• New Zealand

• Ireland

• Japan

• Spain

Pool D

• France

• Italy

• South Africa

• Brazil

During the pool stage, teams will be awarded four points for a win, two points for a draw and zero points for a loss.

What are the rules?

Rugby is an incredibly physical game that requires a lot of communication.

The aim of the game is to score more points than the opposing team by scoring with tries and kicks.

A try is when you carry the ball over the other team's goal line and touch it down on the ground. This scores you 5 points – and earns you a conversion kick.

This is a chance to grab 2 extra points by kicking the ball through the big H shaped goalposts, with the ball resting on a tee on the ground to hold it steady.

A conversion kick has to go through the big H goalposts

Another way to score points is with a penalty kick.

This is similar to a conversion kick, and happens when the opposing team breaks the rules. A successful penalty kick scores 3 points.

Also worth 3 points is a drop goal. This can be scored at any time by kicking the ball through the goalposts, but as there's no time to get your kicking tee out in the middle of play, the ball must touch the ground first and as is kicked just after it has bounced.

When it comes to passing, players can throw it sideways or backwards, but a forward pass is strictly not allowed

England and France in a scrum, an important part of a rugby game

So that's the rules – or the laws – but there are some more key terms you need to know:

Ruck: If the tackle ends on the floor, the player with the ball must let go of it and players from both teams will create a ruck over them to try to get or keep the ball. Players on both sides have to stay standing up while they try to move the opposition out of the way and can't use their hands to pick up the ball until it is on their side of the ruck area.

Maul: A maul is similar to a ruck, but without the ball being dropped on the floor. All players are stood up and pushing to keep their team moving in the right direction.

The team with the ball can move the ball backwards to players further back in the maul and decide whether to continue pushing or pass the ball away.

Scrum: This is a word you may have heard before. A scrum happens after the ball is knocked or passed forwards for some reason, which, as you'll remember, isn't allowed.

A scrum then restarts play, and during it, both teams push against each other while the ball is rolled between them.

Which players should you look out for?

The home nations have lots of players to watch.

Ireland's Aoife Wafer won player of the tournament at this year's Six Nations. It's been a bit touch and go as to whether she would be okay to play in the World Cup as she's recently had knee surgery, but she's made the 32-person squad.

England's winger Ellie Kildunne was crowned World Player of the Year in 2024. She was crucial in helping the Red Roses win the Six Nations in 2024 and then again earlier this year.

She injured her hamstring and couldn't play the deciding match but is ready and raring to go for the world cup.

Wales' Jasmine Joyce-Butchers was the first rugby player to represent Team GB at three Olympic games, and she'll be going into the world cup having played more than 50 times for her country.

And finally Scotland's Jade Konkel, who works as a firefighter in London when she's not on the pitch, has played more than 70 times for her country.

After an ankle injury led her to miss last year's six nations, she'll be eager to make her mark at the world cup.

There are plenty of other incredible rugby players too, so you'll just have to keep watching our coverage on Newsround to find out about them!