Steve Sutcliffe
BBC Sport at Headingley

Image source, Getty Images

Good early pressure from England brings immediate rewards as Barbara Leal knocks on and the host nation go over on their first set.

Tara Jane Stanley gets us going!

Steve Sutcliffe
BBC Sport at Headingley

Image source, BBC Sport

There was a little bit of shock in the press box when the team sheet came in and it showed Fran Goldthorp at full-back rather than the current Woman of Steel Tara Jane Stanley.

England head coach Craig Richards is clearly blessed with options in that position with Caitlin Beevers also likely to pop up there at some stage in the tournament.

The expectation is that those backs will light up England's performance as much as the walk-on pyrotechnics.

Here come the teams, to an impressively noisy Headingley.

The women's World Cup is about to get underway!

Image source, SWPIX.COM

England half-back Courtney Winfield-Hill, speaking to BBC Two:

“We’re ready. I know there’s a terrific buzz amongst the girls. Let’s get out there and get this World Cup under way.

“It’s special to be out there with the England girls, and girls that I’ve made a terrific connection with over the past six years living here.

“Ultimately, I just remind myself that I’m playing another game of rugby with my mates.”

Since competing as a single nation rather than as part of Great Britain, it has been a case of so near but yet so far for England's women.

They have been eliminated in the semi-finals in each of the last three World Cups, never quite able to break the Australia-New Zealand duopoly.

Will this year finally be their year?

Steve Sutcliffe
BBC Sport at Headingley

There are lots of school children inside Headingley today and around 60 of them have come across from St Helens and the school that England captain Emily Rudge teaches at.

Many more are likely to be watching the game during their last lessons of the day and straight after school.

The real hope here is that this tournament becomes the catalyst to nurture the next generation of stars in the women's game.

Image source, SWPIX.COM

England head coach Craig Richards, speaking to BBC Two:

“The girls have worked so hard and we’re so excited. It’s huge for all of the girls playing out there.

“Our girls are better for that extra year, plus there are one or two people that we’ve been able to add to the squad. It’s helped us accelerate and be in a great position.

“We’ve got a really talented squad and today we feel we’re stronger with Fran Goldthorp at full-back based on how we want to play, next week it might be Tara (Stanley). At some stage you will see Tara there.

“We’re expecting a really tough test. I thought they were really resilient against France. We’ve prepared for a tough battle.”

The story of Brazil reaching this tournament is remarkable, the first South American nation to do so.

The Amazonas lost narrowly to France in their only warm-up match on Thursday - their only previous international before that was a 48-0 win over Argentina in 2018.

Despite their inexperience at international level, Brazil were selected as one of the eight teams to compete at the Rugby League World Cup based on infrastructure, plans for growth and potential impact at the delayed 2021 tournament.

With their national team only forming in 2018, the talent pool for selection is around 150 players deep and six of their 23-woman squad only took up the sport in the last 12 months.

The new-look squad contains players who have previously competed in football, basketball and handball.

The very definition of an unknown quantity for today's game. If they get any sort of result, it would rank as one of the greatest sporting shocks ever.

Saturday will be a big day for English rugby league - the women's team play their group game against Canada, kick-off at Wigan is at 12:00 BST, followed by the men's quarter-final against Papua New Guinea at 14:30 GMT.

Hopefully both will get royal approval.

The Princess of Wales is to attend England's World Cup double-header at Wigan on Saturday.

Lois Forsell
Leeds Rhinos women's head coach on BBC Two

The top three will be really competitive. You look at how much the game has grown, the time is coming when the NRL will be knocking on our door to take our players and that shows how much we’ve grown.

Really urge you to watch that Amy Hardcastle video, it shows just how much this sport and this tournament means to these players.

Just been on BBC Two as well. Not a dry eye in the house.

The full Women of Steel documentary is available to watch now on the BBC iPlayer.

Watch the emotional moment Amy Hardcastle is selected for the England World Cup squad.

Image source, Getty Images

Rugby Football League president Clare Balding. speaking to BBC Two: "We've got lots of young kids in the audience today. It's about young girls seeing these women as icons of sport and wanting to do what they're doing.

"That's how you expand the game, as well as putting investment in and that's what the RFL is doing."

Faye Gaskin
St Helens and England half-back on BBC Two

It's massive. We've waited five years for this World Cup to be on home soil. For the girls to represent that shirt, their families and their clubs, and to be here playing for England, is what they dream of.

Watch highlights as Papua New Guinea set up a Rugby League World Cup quarter-final clash with England by beating Wales 36-0 on a wet night in Doncaster.

All eight places in the Rugby League World Cup quarter-finals are decided. Who has gone through?