Can the Red Roses finally win the world cup?

The Ruck

Reynolds Alfie

Guinness Rugby Premiership, Sports, Rugby, Six Nations, Autumn Internationals, Lions, Lions Tour, News, Sports News, World Cup, Sport

3.4 • 566 Ratings

🗓️ 18 August 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The women's world cup starts this week so Alfie Reynolds and Elgan Alderman look ahead to the tournament. They ask whether 2025 is going to be the year that England are finally crowned world champions and who out of France, Canada and New Zealand are best placed to trouble them. They preview every pool, speak about who the stars of the world cup will be and discuss whether a home world cup win could be the Red Roses 'lionesses' moment. Plus, they round up the latest from the Rugby Championship, including Australia's historic comeback victory over South Africa at Ellis Park.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to the Ruck, the journalist's rugby podcast from The Times and the Sunday Times, the Lions tour well and truly in the rearview mirror. We are back on English shores and back in time for the start of the Women's Rugby World Cup that gets underway on Friday. I'm Alfie Reynolds. No Will Callagher or Alex Lowe, well-earned rest for those two post-Lions Tour. But Elgin Alderman is sat alongside me, Elgin, the week of the
0:38.8	Women's World Cup. It's all hurtling along quite nicely.
0:41.6	Very much, so. It's set to be already a record-breaking tournament based off ticket sales already,
0:47.0	still, obviously, six weeks to go until that final when organisers will be hoping they'll get up
0:51.9	to that potential Twickenham sellout which really would be
0:54.6	something we're looking at more than 40,000 already at that opening game which will match possibly
1:00.2	surpass how many turned up the most recent final in Eden Park which was at the time a world record for a
1:05.8	women's rugby game so already it's it's set to be just a record tournament on scale and competition, and hopefully, yeah,
1:12.6	it materialises in that way.
1:14.1	We're going to come on to chat about the rugby championship later on in the podcast as well,
1:17.9	because unbelievable result for the wallabies at Ellis Park against South Africa at the weekend,
1:22.9	but the Women's World Cup will be our focus to start with.
1:25.5	And Elgin, I want to start with the big question, really. It's the question that we've been asking of the Red Roses since the last World
1:32.0	Cup final. It was the question we were asking of them before that World Cup final that they lost so
1:36.6	narrowly to New Zealand. It is the question that haunts this team and has done since 2014. Can
1:43.0	the Red Roses finally win it?
1:44.9	Again, like last time, they are the favourites.
1:48.0	Some would say the overwhelming favourites.
1:49.8	The unavoidable statistic is that they have won 57 of their past 58 tests, and that one
1:55.9	defeat was that World Cup final at Eden Park against the Black Ferns.
2:00.0	In between World Cups, they easily beat New Zealand.
2:03.7	They've had some close matches against France and Canada.
	...

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