Red Roses thrash USA in World Cup opener
Rugby Union Weekly
BBC
4.6 • 5.2K Ratings
🗓️ 22 August 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On the whistle reaction as England beat the USA 69-7.
Sara Orchard is joined by 1994 World Cup winning Red Rose Giselle Mather and commentator Claire Thomas to reflect on England’s emphatic start to their World Cup campaign and the huge sense of occasion created at the Stadium of Light for the opening match. Was Ellie Kildunne the right call for player of the match? And how did the Red Roses still not exhibit their best play?
Plus, should the USA’s Alev Kelter have been given the yellow card? And where do the Americans go from here?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Five Lives Rugby Union Weekly |
| 0:03.0 | Welcome to Sunderland at the end of the Women's Rugby World Cup opening match |
| 0:11.0 | and there is a massive fireworks display going on outside. |
| 0:16.0 | I've got Claire Thomas who is commentating on Five Live Me in the Opener for England. I've got Giselle Maver commentating on five live for England. |
| 0:24.7 | I've got Giselle Maven, 1994 Rugby World Cup winner with England. |
| 0:26.7 | Is it going to stop? What do you think? |
| 0:29.6 | We've had false dawns, but there we go. |
| 0:32.4 | We're going to ride with the fireworks. |
| 0:33.8 | Okay, then. |
| 0:36.7 | Okay, right, let's talk about rugby. |
| 0:44.9 | First of all, the occasion, an opening World Cup match in Sunderland, 42,723. |
| 0:50.2 | Nearly the entire ticket sales for the 2017 World Cup. |
| 0:51.6 | Giselle, that's stunning. |
| 0:52.8 | It's incredible. |
| 1:02.3 | And it's also when you think that the closing game in 2022 was 40,000 as well, 42,000. At Eden Park, yeah. |
| 1:03.6 | That was the final crowd. |
| 1:05.0 | This is the starting crowd. |
| 1:07.2 | And we already know that Twickenham sold out for the final. |
| 1:10.3 | So what's going to happen in between? But we've already surpassed what was going on in Park. |
| 1:16.1 | And we know that money is being spent on this tournament because of the fireworks display is going on right now. |
| 1:20.8 | I mean, Claire, this is madness. |
| 1:22.3 | The fireworks are absolutely bananas, but they are, I suppose, a fitting way to finish an evening which was |
... |
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