I'm not here for code wars, but I think an interesting angle is that the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup Final had a higher single game attendance than *any* rugby league world cup game. Further the total attendance was higher than all but one edition: Genuinely phenomenal stuff

This stat for me is the winning of the game. England gave Canada absolutely nothing on the gain line and that had so many knock on effects - the Canadian average wruck speed was 3.6 instead of 2.4, it created opportunities for Botterman and co to slow rucks down, it meant the attack wasn’t as fluid

I’ve been pondering on this point about a stop-start game and I kinda know what you mean, in that Canada very rarely achieved the attacking rhythm that destroyed the Black Ferns. But I’m struggling to detect much sign of stop-start in the stats.

Lots to like about this alternative Rugby World Cup Team of the Tournament, excluding players from the four finalist teams www.rugbypass.com/news/rwc-202...

Four excellent tries here. I slightly prefer the Lomani try with the Joseph try a very close second. www.instagram.com/p/DPLkkCNDD3... Personally though I would also have included Brazil’s try vs France and a couple of South Africa’s tries too.

There's a dearth of written coverage of the PWR, and that will only become more obvious as journalists who covered the Rugby World Cup all disappear now the tournament is over. To help plug the gap I'll be writing regularly on a new substack, and I'd love you to check it out! pwrpoint.substack.com

We get it , Prime Minister. You don’t have to rub it in that the rest of the world doesn’t have Sophie de Goede.

Looking forward to watching the tv coverage of both matches. England are just an anaconda of a team. They exert constant pressure and just squeeze the life out of their opponent. England’s defence - apart from the policy of leaving Asia Hogan-Rochester unmarked - was just immense.

Six of Canada's starting pack have played over 250 minutes in the tournament - England only 3. Julia Schell is the tournament's only 400 minute woman 🦸‍♀️ Some Canada replacements have had very few minutes...

37% success on opposition scrum feed is pretty extraordinary.

Just putting some numbers to this: In their 5 matches to date, Canada performed better in the 1st half than the 2nd in all but the first match, vs Fiji. Overall Canada scored 56% of their points in the 1st half whereas their opponents scored only 33% of their points in the 1st half.

6th game in a row for the majority of the squad. I wonder if that will be a factor for Canada/ Feel like their route to victory is another fast start (which they’ve largely had in this World Cup - and England have been very sluggish the first 20 minutes in almost all their games)

Elite athletes. Minimal support. World-class results. That's the Canadian rugby story. It’s not a sign that all is well; it's a sign of what's possible.

I pretty much agree with Jessica Hayden’s points here. Either team can win, it depends who executes on the day. observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

Here's an amazing women's #rugbyhistory story ahead of the #RWC2025 final this weekend. 🏉 If you don't know about Noriko Kishida of Japan 🇯🇵 and the 1991 Women's World Cup, you need to read this thread. 🧵

1/ Canada's women's rugby team has defied the odds to reach the World Cup Final this Saturday, but there's a huge misconception about their journey. This is not a team without funding. Here's the real story of how they did it. 🧵

The predictions ahead of the Women's World Cup🏆 semi finals this weekend, as well as the results from last week. For more on the Rugby World Cup - and how to use these predictions at the bookies - check out Rugby4Cast below 👇 buff.ly/hSIFHqz #RWC2025

Apparently Grisez is out, so Arbey comes back into the starting lineup and Boulard comes onto the bench. That’s a huge shame - Grisez was on fire. Boulard an excellent replacement though.

Is France's women's club rugby revolution (finally) about to begin? #Elite1 #RWC2025 open.substack.com/pub/illtudda...

2029 Women's Rugby World Cup: With World Rugby's recent announcement we definitely know 10 teams (6 Nations + Pac 4) 2 more are de facto locks, South Africa (Africa) and Japan (Asia) 1 more is a likely lock following investment for '25: Brazil (South America) The last 3 im/ex-plicitly from WXV3:

Some thoughts on the France team to play England on Saturday. Obviously M. Feleu and Berthoumieu out so Ikahehegi and T. Feleu replace them. Ikahehegi is fairly inexperienced and her impact on the RWC so far has been a couple of appearances (84 mins) featuring a fair bit of tackling.

@optajonny.optajoe.com and @huwgriffinrugby.bsky.social have pointed out Sophie De Goede’s extraordinary Rugby World Cup stats, leading the entire competition for carries (67), offloads (11), lineout takes (24) and conversions (17), 4th in the whole comp for try assists (4) & top Canada tackler (48)

Can't be looking at French player stats without also highlighting Gabrielle Vernier: - top ball carrier for France (43 carries) - top for France and 6th in the whole RWC for defenders beaten (18) - 1st for line breaks for France (5) - top French back for attacking rucks hit (28)

Some Opta stats for Charlotte Escudero, who has probably been the most influential of France's forwards this RWC. - 3rd highest try scorer for France (3) - 3rd highest carries for France (34) - 1st for France (& second in the whole RWC) for tackles (70) - 1st for the whole RWC for turnovers won (8)

Some interesting stats available ahead of the weekend's Rugby World Cup Semi-Finals... CAN miss most tackles but fewest turnovers lost FRA fewest but points scored but miss fewest tackles NZ concede most penalties, but highest Metres/Carry ENG beat fewest defenders but most dominant tackles

Looking at Opta's stats at theanalyst.com I think the suspensions of Manae Feleu and Axelle Berthoumieu most hurt France in the lineout, where Feleu was France's top recipient with 7 takes. Berthoumieu was a useful alternative with 3 takes.

Feleu's suspension has been upheld by the Disciplinary Committee, so she will miss the rest of the Rugby World Cup. Berthoumieu's suspension reduced to 9 matches as the DC disagreed with the way the Foul Player Review Committee applied "mitigation" yesterday. www.world.rugby/media-zone/a...

Aimee Barrett-Theron get's World Rugby's vote of confidence as she's named ref for Canada/New Zealand semifinal. In my view, she's a very good ref despite the quarterfinal controversy. No surprise that Maggie Cogger-Orr gets the other semifinal. I imagine Holly Davidson will get the Final now.

This is great news!

Based on the World Cup so far, and with the exit of all Lions teams except England, I have picked my Lions squad for an imaginary tour starting in October. #Rugby #Lions

Axelle Berthoumieu on instagram: accepts what she did was wrong, it’s not what she wants to be; apologises to Aoife Wafer, Ireland and the French team and staff.

World Rugby has now reported on the Foul Play Review Committee decisions for Axelle Berthoumieu and Manae Feleu. In short: - Feleu's citing upheld, 3 match suspension, Feleu has appealed and will be heard by a Disciplinary Committee tomorrow ... www.world.rugby/media-zone/r...

💯 this ⬇️

I don't want to say I called it... but I wrote this 2 hours ago:

Not looking great on this angle either...

It was Berthoumieu

Glad to see Anna Caplice is ok, I was getting worried!

Objectif atteint, contrat rempli. C'est la pire chose qui pouvait arriver au rugby français.

You can’t have 66% territory and possession and not score. France defence immense. #Rugby #WorldCup #RWC2025 #FRAvIRE

Chambon has been huge for Ireland in her short time on the pitch

This has been an incredible game.

This is an absolute epic semi final

Hmmm...

Si j'ai bien vu ce que j'ai cru voir, il y a moyen que Pauline Bourdon-Sansus soit citée et suspendue.

Feels to me that wind is worth more than 13 points, but let's see..

It’s win or go home🏆 The #RWC2025 quarter-finals are here and @optajonny.optajoe.com has crunched the numbers on all four clashes. Who makes it through to the semis? 🔥 theanalyst.com/articles/wom...

Laura Delgado's Test Match career has come to a close not in the way she deserved but life can be trully unfair sometimes However... well, there's no however in this story Read it and understand that the fight still has to continue Gracias, Laura... Leona 181🇪🇸 www.rugbypass.com/news/laura-d...

That big news I teased yesterday? I've written a book! Attacking the Space: Inside Rugby's Tactical and Data Revolution is the book I wanted to read as a rugby obsessive kid. It will be released on the 29th January 2026, the pre-order link is: geni.us/AttackingThe... 1)

This was the backs coach's dream from Argentina. The same call, two different options, two tries. #RugbyAnalysis #AUSvARG #LosPumas

Sport but make it Warner Bros