Women’s Rugby World Cup: Round 3 Recap
- therookiereporters
- Sep 15
- 4 min read
With your quarter finalists being announced in Round 2, what will these girls have given us this weekend?
Canada v Scotland
Canada came in strong on the back of a double win, propelling their high spirits. Emily Tuttosi was named the Mastercard Player of the Match after scoring two tries for her country. Canada’s win was aided by Scotland’s Evie Gallagher getting a yellow card, meaning Canada got a penalty try, in addition to Helen Nelson’s try being disallowed after an offside review, putting a grey cloud over Scotland’s heads. The win for Canada means that they will face Australia in the quarterfinals.
Score: 40-19 to Canada
USA v Samoa
The USA went into this game with pressure to score significant points to keep their quarterfinal chances alive, with their rival Australia a large points margin ahead in the Pool A standings. Tafuna was the shining star of the rugby match with a deserved Player of the Match award after scoring four tries. Unfortunately, the 60-point score wasn't enough to see them through, with Australia scoring 7 points in their match to keep them ahead. Samoa showed consistent resilience in every match they played, bringing a strong spirit throughout the tournament despite not winning any games. That team has 100% made their country proud with the hard work they put in to reach the world stage.
Score: 60-0 to USA
Wales v Fiji
While Fiji may have scored four tries to Wales’ five tries, Wales missed all of their conversions, which ultimately put Fiji ahead on the scoreboard. In the second half, Wales came out fighting and tried to make a comeback, but Fiji managed to hold their ground and take the win marginally. Either way, both nations were already eliminated from the tournament’s quarterfinals so they didn’t go into the game with pressure to fight for their place in the next round.
Score: 28-25 to Fiji
England v Australia
Australia took the lead six minutes in with their only try of the match by Talakai, until England rebounded towards the latter part of the first half. Kabeya and Clifford both scored two tries while Breach, Ward and Bern also scored for the Red Roses. Australia suffered from a yellow card, which was given to Moleka for a dangerous tackle, but so did England’s Sarah Bern for a shoulder-to-head tackle in the late stages of the game. In the end, England kept their winning streak and extended it to 30 matches. Now they face Scotland in the quarterfinals next weekend.
Score: 47-7 to England
Japan v Spain
With Spain starting strong, it was impressive to see Japan overcome a 14-5 deficit to them after halftime. Try scorers for Spain were: Cristina Blanco Herrera, Monica Castello and Victoria Rosell Martinez. Japan’s try scores were: Sora Nishimura, Iroha Nagata, Wako Kitano, Komachi Imakugi and Jennifer Nduka. Sadly for Anne Fernández, she finished the tournament with a yellow card due to head contact while her country suffered three losses. Japan left the tournament with 2 losses, but both countries put in a lot of effort and were determined to fight.
Score: 29-21 to Japan
Italy v Brazil
Brazil, who were the unexpected gift of the tournament, gave fans a promising start with a penalty kick by Kochhann. Their small lead didn’t last long as the Italians found their mojo and scored a total of 12 tries against Brazil in the game, with Granzotto and Minuzzi scoring hat-tricks. A positive takeaway for Italy in this match was not only their win but also scoring a bonus point. Whereas Brazil will have time to reflect on their performances to sharpen up their skills for the next tournament in a couple of years.
Score: 64-3 to Italy
New Zealand v Ireland
The Black Ferns were powerful as always, with the likes of Soreson-McGee scoring a hat-trick, Waaka, Viliko and Joseph also scoring tries for their country. In addition, Holmes aided their win by converting all of their tries to expand on their winning margin. Unfortunately for the Irish, Stacey Flood was forced out of the game due to sustaining an ankle injury in the first half. Due to this result, New Zealand will battle South Africa while Ireland competes against France in the quarterfinals this weekend.
Score: 40-0 to New Zealand
France v South Africa
France had the advantage from the get-go and it didn’t help South Africa when Chumisa Qawe was awarded a 20-minute red card after a head-on-head tackle was made in the first half. Despite South African struggles, they still managed to score a try with Nadine Roos.
Score: 57-10 to France
Table Standings
Pool A
1 - England
2 - Australia
3 - USA
4 - Samoa
Pool B
1 - Canada
2 - Scotland
3 - Fiji
4 - Wales
Pool C
1 - New Zealand
2 - Ireland
3 - Japan
4 - Spain
Pool D
1 - France
2 - South Africa
3 - Italy
4 - Brazil
Quarterfinal match schedule (BST)
13th September
13:00 New Zealand v South Africa
16:00 Canada v Australia
14th September
13:00 France v Ireland
16:00 England v Scotland
Article written by Alice Seager ©️Alice Seager 2025
