Springbok Women to learn World Cup pool opponents

The Women’s Rugby World Cup draw for next year’s tournament in England will take place on Thursday, 17 October.

Key members of the Springbok Women's team. Image: SA Rugby website

Following the World Cup draw next week, the Springbok Women will certainly then shift focus to the match schedule that will subsequently be released on Tuesday 22 October.

As it stands, 10 teams have already qualified for the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, namely Canada, France, Brazil, Ireland, South Africa, Japan, USA, Fiji, reigning champions New Zealand, and hosts England – with the remaining six places to come from WXV 2024.

The top four teams in the World Rugby Women’s Rankings (as of 14 October) will be placed into band 1 and prepopulated into the first position in each pool. The remaining 12 teams will be drawn into bands 2,3 and 4 based on their rankings and drawn one by one.

The bands are:

Band 1 – Seeds 1 to 4
Band 2 – Seeds 5 to 8
Band 3 – Seeds 9 to 12
Band 4 – Seeds 13 to 16

THIS HOW THE CURRENT WORLD RANKINGS LOOK:

Exciting times ahead for the ever-improving Springbok Women

Following the draw, the match schedule will be revealed on Tuesday 22 October, giving teams, host locations and fans clarity on fixtures. It has already been confirmed that England will play their opening match in Sunderland, with their remaining two pool matches being played in Northampton and Brighton and Hove.

Sarah Massey, Managing Director of Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, expressed her excitement: “This is a significant milestone as fans will be able to plan their Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 experience. With over 60,000 tickets already sold, the demand and enthusiasm across the country is clear. We look forward to announcing the match schedule and expect high demand across the tournament and all around the country”.