Women's Rugby World Cup: Red Roses make ideal tournament start in 11-try hammering of USA in Sunderland

Hannah Botterman was among the try scorers as England's Red Roses smashed the USA

England's Red Roses began their 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup in ideal fashion, dispatching the USA 69-7 at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland.

John Mitchell's side scored 11 tries in the tournament opener through back-row Sadia Kabeya, loosehead Hannah Botterman, tighthead Maud Muir, full-back Ellie Kildunne (two), wings Abby Dow and Jess Breach (two) and hookers Amy Cokayne and Lark Atkin-Davies (two).

Red Roses fly-half Zoe Harrison also kicked six conversions in victory before departing, while the USA scored only through Erica Jarrell's try, which brought the Test to 14-7 in the first half before centre Alev Kelter was sin-binned to firmly turn the direction of things in favour of the hosts from an early stage.

The second half then proved utterly one-sided as England dominated to kick on and score a flood of tries in front of a record Women's World Cup crowd of nearly 43,000.

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Red Roses full-back Ellie Kildunne put in an impressive display to be named player of the match

England hit the front on nine minutes when Kabeya was on hand to finish at the back of a dominant driving maul, and 10 minutes later the home side's lead was doubled when Botterman ran in on a superb line, handing off full-back Lotte Sharp after brilliant build-up play from centre Meg Jones.

In response, USA wing Bulou Mataitoga butchered a huge chance for a try when she broke into space down the left but kicked ahead instead of passing inside for a clear run in.

Botterman sprinted on a great line to get over for England's second try

Moments later the visitors did get onto the board when lock Jarrell showed electric pace and dynamism to sprint over for a stunning try in the 25th minute.

Just when it seemed as if it could be game on, though, a moment of stupidity by USA centre Kelter in slapping the ball out of England scrum-half Mo Hunt's hands while off her feet saw her sin-binned, during which the Red Roses struck for two tries to create scoreline daylight.

First, after USA centre Ilona Maher was denied a pretty obvious breakdown penalty near her own tryline, Muir forced her way over from close range.

Prop Maud Muir forced her way over in the first half to put the Red Roses in control

Then, virtually from the restart, Kildunne was on hand to finish a Dow break on the counter after the duo had combined to create the chance.

Harrison converted both for a 28-7 lead, and when veteran USA prop Hope Rogers was held up over the line after heavy pressure following a Maher break, any hope of a contest appeared gone.

Kildunne notched her first try on the break in the first half

That was rubberstamped less than three minutes into the second half when Dow dived over in the corner after a fabulous Tatyana Heard pass.

A sixth try followed for England in the 47th minute, when a Jones charge-down and clever kick in behind by Breach gave Kildunne the opportunity to show her hunger, racing forward and winning a kicking contest before gathering the ball and battling over.

A neat lineout move down the blindside saw hooker Cokayne score another for England less than five minutes later, before Breach scored to take England to 50 points after a Heard break and Kildunne unselfishness in passing on.

Jess Breach scored two second half tries via two Kildunne assists

Atkin-Davies emerged off the bench to force her way over, with Breach then scoring her second after a magnificent piece of play from Kildunne, countering from deep in her own half down the left before passing inside.

The hosts added one further try before the end, with Atkin-Davies scoring from a rolling maul. Emma Sing converted to leave the Red Roses just shy of 70 points at full-time.

England 'raised intensity in second half' after revelling in 'overwhelming' atmosphere

England wing Abby Dow, speaking to the BBC:

"I'm sure there were a lot of emotions.

"It slowly built during the week and things like the atmosphere and record crowd can become overwhelming.

"It is okay to live in that emotion and we enjoyed it. We were maybe a bit scrappy in the first half but then warmed up and got going.

"We have had great experiences with home crowds in the past in Six Nations but a home World Cup almost overwhelmed us.

"I couldn't hear a word from people standing near me. I might have to learn to lip read!"

Red Roses

England head coach John Mitchell, speaking to the BBC:

"We built into the first half. We challenged the girls to lift their intensity in the second half and we got a good balance between forwards and backs.

"We are human. It's a home tournament and I am just happy we have started and the girls have experienced an amazing crowd at home.

"There is so much more growth left in us. The Red Roses are eager to get better and it's almost pre-season for us. We have to get better as well."

What's next?

England play their second Pool A fixture against Samoa on Saturday August 30 at Northampton's Franklin's Gardens (5pm).

The USA's second Rugby World Cup Pool A clash comes against Australia in York on Saturday August 30 (7.30pm).

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Women's Rugby World Cup 2025 schedule

Pool stage

Pool A

August 22: England 69-7 United States - Sunderland
August 23: Australia vs Samoa - Salford, 12pm
August 30: England vs Samoa - Northampton, 5pm
August 30: United States vs Australia - York, 7.30pm
September 6: United States vs Samoa - York, 1.30pm
September 6: England vs Australia - Brighton, 5pm

Pool B

August 23: Scotland vs Wales - Salford, 2.45pm
August 23: Canada vs Fiji - York, 5.30pm
August 30: Canada vs Wales - Salford, 12pm
August 30: Scotland vs Fiji - Salford, 2.45pm
September 6: Canada vs Scotland - Exeter, 12pm
September 6: Wales vs Fiji - Exeter, 2.45pm

Pool C

August 24: Ireland vs Japan - Northampton, 12pm
August 24: New Zealand vs Spain - York, 5.30pm
August 31: Ireland vs Spain - Northampton, 12pm
August 31: New Zealand vs Japan - Exeter, 2pm
September 7: Japan vs Spain - York, 12pm
September 7: New Zealand vs Ireland - Brighton, 2.45pm

Pool D

August 23: France vs Italy - Exeter, 8.15pm
August 24: South Africa vs Brazil - Northampton, 2.45pm
August 31: Italy vs South Africa - York, 3.30pm
August 31: France vs Brazil - Exeter, 4.45pm
September 7: Italy vs Brazil - Northampton, 2pm
September 7: France vs South Africa - Northampton, 4.45pm