The all-conquering Red Roses lifted the World Cup with a 33-13 mauling of Canada with their dominance of the sport also reflected in a 33-Test winning run – so what’s next?

Red Roses broke records and ruled the world – but what next?

Let’s start with some numbers, some rather large numbers!

81,885 spectators crammed the three-tiers of Twickenham at the weekend, a record crowd for a women’s rugby match and a Rugby World Cup match. It broke not a particularly long standing tournament record, one set just weeks before when 42,723 packed Sunderland’s Stadium of Light as England began their 2025 World Cup campaign against the USA.

Record breaking attendances

It’s also the second-highest attendance for a Rugby World Cup Final – men’s or women’s. Another attendance record was set during the semi-finals as the two matches had a combined gathering of over 50,000 with both games played at Ashton Gate in Bristol.

All around the tournament was pretty beneficial for the Bristol economy – the local Hoteliers Association reported occupancy levels of over 90 per cent during the weekends where the city hosted quarter-finals and the semi-finals, revenues up by 20-30 per cent off the back of the Women’s Rugby World Cup (WRWC).

Over 440,000 tickets were sold for the WRWC, the original target was around 350,000 so sales surpassed that by not far off 100,000.

Yes, almost 82,000 turned up for the glamourous finale, but throughout the tournament the selection of stadia was crucial. Go too big and even a decent crowd can look thin, but get it right and the crowds and atmosphere combine.

Similar planning was used at the last two women’s Euros tournaments in England and also this summer in Switzerland where the stadia from Geneva, Lucerne, to Basel were all full or as near to it, way better to have a 25,000-capacity rammed out than 30,000 in a 90,000-capacity stadium.

Pivotal summer and autumn for women’s sport

There is a feel-good factor after Saturday’s victory for the Red Roses, the slightly hazy post-victory celebration and well earned smiles will live long in memories.

But it’s also been a pretty good summer for women’s sport in England after the Lionesses’ Euros victory in Switzerland in July. With the Women’s Cricket World Cup upon us as well with England looking for a fifth world title, a treble of global success would be unparalleled. Imagine the party required if that happened!

Sarah Massey, managing director of Rugby World Cup 2025 said even before the final had concluded, “We are witnessing a generational moment… It’s an extraordinary milestone that surpasses even our best expectations.

“When we look back at Rugby World Cup attendances through recent history, it’s clear we are witnessing a generational moment, and the trajectory of women’s rugby is only moving upwards.”

How to grow the game sustainably?

Often after a successful major sporting event, the word ‘legacy’ gets thrown about a lot. It’s often ill-used and quite frankly can be pretty disingenuous.

What does is it actually mean anyway – Infrastructure use? Growth of participation? Financial gain?

After many World Cups and Olympics the word ‘legacy’ has been talked about. Post-London 2012 Olympics, the numbers taking part in numerous sports didn’t quite match the adrenalin pumped forecasts predicted, while the knock on benefits of football World Cups in South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014 never came to tangible fruition – if anything the financial spend on those tournaments stifled post-tournament growth while many venues have the moniker ‘white elephant’ attached to them.

The main Olympic Stadium used for the Barcelona ’92 Olympics was all that was talked about after the Games had been and gone – ‘white elephant’ (That is until FC Barcelona’s revamp of the Nou Camp overran and they needed a temporary home for a few years).

Closer to home, but back in time to 2003, the England men’s side’s first and only Rugby World Cup triumph to date made headlines and many, many people had a great time. But once the dust settled and some good work by many good people within the grassroots had passed, the numbers playing the game in England had stalled a decade on.

The structure wasn’t in place to cope with the initial surge of interest.

That wasn’t the plan when trying to capitalise on the hundreds of thousands who flocked to Trafalgar Square and beyond to cheer them. Similar concerns have been raised and plans to address this have happened within football. The success of the Lionesses in 2021 saw a huge rise in the number of girls and young women wanting to play football, the challenge was not the interest, but supplying the demand.

And so to Battersea and another World Cup victory parade, this time the women not the men. What lessons, what mistakes can be learned and avoided?

Prior to England’s win on Saturday, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) had put in place something different and while it may or may not work, it might just show that lessons from the past are being heeded. They pre-planned.

The state of play now in England regarding the women’s and girls game has about 60,000 registered players with an aspiration to see 100,000 playing the game in the next few years.

As with all sports you need money and the RFU commit £15m annually. Back in August, many media on the RFU mailing list received a document titled ‘Impact ’25’ – an update on how a plan to sustain growth and build on successes was unfolding.

Impact ’25 had begun in 2022 so it was already three years of work before the Red Roses won the World Cup.

The key lines – from the RFU – were:

• 37,000+ women and girls reached by Impact ’25 in Year 3
• 500+ clubs, schools, and universities supported in Year 3
• 35% increase in registered age grade girls since the start of Impact ’25
• 3,385 new female coaches and match officials engaged in training thanks to Impact ’25
• 77% of targeted funding delivered outside London & South East

Separate to the RFU’s funding model for women’s and girl’s rugby, £14.55m has been backing ‘Impact ’25’, the money coming from UK Government and not just for the RFU, but for the grassroots in Wales, Scotland & Ireland.

The programme is being delivered – along with the Home Unions – by UK Government, UK Sport & Sport England. The difference here with ‘Impact ’25’ is that it’s not a project coming to light after a World Cup success, but began without fanfare almost three years ago.

Next week the RFU, doubtless emboldened by the Red Roses success, is set to announce it’s new Women’s and Girls Strategy, but it’s growing off the work of ‘Impact ’25’ rather than a knee-jerk reaction to success.

Alex Teasdale, RFU Executive Director of Women’s Game said: “After three years of delivering the Rugby World Cup 2025 legacy programme, Impact ’25, we can really see the growth across all five of our key focus areas – from coaching and officiating to playing and volunteering.

“This is a clear demonstration of how investment can directly improve the rugby experiences of women and girls across the country, as well as the positive social impact it’s having on participants’ lives.”

Competitiveness and a crowded marketplace

Some games at WRWC have been one-sided and for any global sporting tournament, it’s not a good look or good for the future of that sport for just a few nations to dominate.

There is a hope that in rugby terms, the women’s game is at a pivotal stage where the powerhouse nations – of which England is part of – are caught up by not just by close rivals New Zealand, France or even Canada, but by many other rugby playing countries. Competitiveness is good.

How this will be achieved is muti-faceted and not guaranteed to be successful. We’ve outlined the funding, stats and numbers that the RFU are looking to achieve and build upon, but it’s not on them to provide for everyone else. Within the UK and Ireland the ambitions of the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) and Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) will need to be high and backed.

They are all smaller Unions and countries compared with England and that comes with challenges, but a good base for any sport is to have an accessible and inclusive club and national pathway.

The issues of sexism and misogyny within the WRU over recent years have been well documented and has led to an overhaul of the entire leadership structure of the WRU. It’s been a horrible period for Welsh rugby and may continue to have challenges for several years to come, but the end goal is create an environment and structure that girls and women can enjoy, learn and thrive within.

Outside the UK, the hope is that nations, administrators and governing bodies that support men’s and boys rugby do so with similar vigour for their girls and women.

Across the globe, 60 per cent of players have another job on top of trying to be at the elite end of the women’s game.

This is not a new phenomena as just last week, after 800m runner Georgia Hunter-Bell took silver at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo following up on her 1500m Olympic bronze at Paris 2024, it was pertinent to point out that up until April 2024, Hunter-Bell had for seven years worked full-time in tech sales.

She powered her drive to Olympic and World success by running two careers side-by-side up until a point whereby financially she was able to concentrate on being solely an elite, world-class athlete.

Many, many female rugby players will be in similar positions and for those nations (and clubs) where more women can be fully professional, the standard and safety of the game will be raised.

A concern is that only the few can afford this and in doing so, the gap between the ‘have’s’ and have-not’s’ widens and so competitiveness reduces. It is a difficult predicament and a challenge for the game.

A basic premise though to increase competitiveness is to have an elite player base that is large, sustainable and forever adapting and learning.

That requires a strong elite club game and strong grassroots club rugby. Domestically, the club league season begins soon, the weekend of October 24/25/26 will see the new Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) season kick-off with a concerted effort in place to capitalise on England’s World Cup success.

Many England stars will be on show that weekend along with several players from other nations with Harlequins and Gloucester-Hartpury playing their first round home matches at the Twickenham Stoop and Kingsholm respectively – the stadia where the men’s sides play.

A key question for women’s rugby union

While it’s silly to expect 81,885 people to flock to watch PWR matches, there will be people with large brains looking at how to encourage people who are happy to go to Rugby HQ to watch a World Cup Final to spend their disposable income on watching – and therefore supporting – women’s club rugby on a regular basis.

Sporting-wise, the marketplace is crowded. Football is the dominant sport in England, hundreds of thousands of people every weekend criss-cross the country to watch games in the Premier League, EFL and WSL. Men’s club rugby has its heartlands, rarely do you see a spare seat at Bath, Gloucester or Leicester while in London, Harlequins and Saracens take matches away from their normal homes to Twickenham sporting 82,000 seats and the 62,000-capacity Tottenham Hotspur Stadium where Sarries will host ‘Showdown 6’ in 2026.

But is it the task of the women’s game to try to attract people who like rugby and attend men’s games?

One noticeable interview with a fan during the WRWC was how she said women’s rugby provided her with “her place, somewhere where she felt welcomed and fitted in”. The people with large brains do know this, so this isn’t pointing out anything new, but every sport needs its USP and the trick for women’s rugby is to fully find it and capitalise.

The game will require some outside help and guidance, but regardless of which flavour of Government sits at Westminster, there appears a will to observe and hold to account sport from a cross-party point of view more than ever.

MPs sitting on Culture, Media & Sport Select Committees have called multiple witnesses in the past as they ask questions about who is nurturing women’s and girls sport and who is stifling it. It’s not fool-proof, but it can be of benefit and highlight issues to wider audiences.

Perhaps the final word from a World Cup winner….

In the aftermath of what took place at Twickenham, England’s Meg Jones stated this: “Women’s sport is on the up… We’re leading with compassion, leading with vulnerability and leading with love.

“That’s what humans want and I think we’ll keep doing that.”