World Rugby’s chief executive Alan Gilpin has lauded the “historic, special and incredible” Rugby World Cup 2025 which he says showed “stratospheric” growth in the women’s game.
What was earmarked as a watershed moment for the sport a few months ago exceeded the expectations of even the game’s governing body, thanks to record-breaking crowds and interest that reached its peak as England beat Canada 33-13 in Saturday’s final at a packed Allianz Stadium Twickenham.
Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 managing director Sarah Massey said: “Overall, an astronomical 444,465 tickets were sold for games during the event.
“That number is well over three times that which we saw three years ago [when the event was in New Zealand] while the official attendance of Saturday’s final between England and Canada was a new record for women’s rugby at 81,885. When England last hosted a Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2010, there were 13,253 people at the final at the Twickenham Stoop.
Gilpin reacted: “We’ve been involved in the greatest Rugby World Cup of all time, a tournament that delivered on every single level.
“It didn’t just raise the bar, it’s gone stratospheric.
“The women’s game is definitely an engine for growth. It will help us open new markets, attract new investment and drive our sport forward globally.”
Massey also revealed that the event in England was attended by fans from 133 countries, 53 percent of which were female. Surveys conducted showed that 50 percent of those attendees had never been to a women’s rugby match before, but an incredible 95 percent intend to return and watch it again.
“This tournament has shown that women and girls can be anything, do anything and belong anywhere – in rugby, in sport and in society,” Massey added.
World Rugby is going all in to ensure that all of this is not a one-off, with the recent announcement of a WXV Global Series which will transform the international calendar and fuel momentum from this Rugby World Cup onto the next one and beyond.
The WXV Global Series will feature the world’s best 18 teams in a fixture schedule with over 100 matches between 2026 and 2028, providing certainty of competition on the road to Women’s Rugby World Cup 2029 in Australia.
- May Campbell, the Saracens hooker who started her rugby journey at Stirling County, was part of England’s wider winning tournament squad.
- New Zealand finished third overall after defeating France 42-26 in the bronze meal match at the weekend.
The amazing scene at Allianz Stadium Twickenham on Saturday and the victorious England squad are pictured – thanks to World Rugby
From August 7 until September 30, GH Media will be following the Scotland World Cup journey all of the way. We will be at all of the Scotland matches down south and will be bringing you all of the interviews and news from camp as well as taking a wider look at the tournament as a whole and its impact on the women’s game. Thanks to Quirky Chocolate and other supporters for allowing this content to happen and to readers for engaging with it.