“The 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup was a turning point – but what comes next?”

The 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup was more than a tournament – it was a revelation. England’s Red Roses lifting the trophy in front of a capacity crowd of over 80,000 at Allianz Stadium Twickenham was historic, yes, but the story was bigger than just one game. Across the tournament, 12 million people tuned into the BBC, and new audiences fell in love with the sport, and women’s rugby felt – finally – like it belonged.

And, as euphoric as the past six weeks have been, it’s now that the real work begins. We cannot look back on 2025 as a landmark moment that we failed to capitalise on.

For decades, women’s rugby has lived in the shadow of its male equivalent – underfunded, under-promoted and routinely dismissed as a niche interest. This World Cup blew those narratives apart. The sight of Allianz Stadium Twickenham heaving with fans for a women’s final would have been unthinkable even a decade ago. Add to that the millions watching on free-to-air TV, and the message is clear: if you put women’s rugby on the biggest stages, the audience will come. It was joyful, defiant proof that the excuses – No one’s interested and It doesn’t sell – are finished. No more treating women’s rugby like a worthy side project. The talent, the audience and the momentum are already there. We’ve proven it this World Cup. The only question is whether rugby unions and broadcasters match the players’ and the fans’ ambitions.  

England were deserved champions, with an unbeaten run that goes back to the last Rugby World Cup final in 2022. But this wasn’t just England’s World Cup. Ireland were outstanding in their first World Cup since hosting in 2017, making it to the semi-finals before being beaten by France. Scotland, despite contract disputes and an uncertain future, battled through the pool stages and fell in a quarter-final against eventual winners England. Wales were outplayed throughout the tournament, but can start to rebuild as we move forward into the next cycle.

The Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) competition starts in a month. This is the engine room of the sport – where the next Marlie Packer, Ellie Kildunne or Sabia Kabeya is developed, and where fans know they can see world-class rugby every single weekend, not just in four-year cycles. And for the first time, all 75 PWR matches will be broadcast live across TNT Sport, BBC Sport and YouTube, ensuring a global audience can tune into more PWR action than ever before.  

Then, in two years, the first women’s British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand will take place. It will take the best of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales and place them on one of the sport’s biggest stages. This could be a defining cultural moment, the kind of event that inspires a generation. But the Lions will only be as strong as the nations that feed into them. All of the home nations need to be stepping up and building on the platform from this year, to ensure that the British & Irish Lions don’t end up looking more like ‘England and friends’. That wouldn’t just be a sporting problem; it would be a betrayal of all that the Lions stand for.

This is a golden opportunity to ensure that the legacy of this event is not just a footnote. We can’t let the glow of 2025 fade into a “remember when?” moment. Of course, it’s easy to point fingers at administrators. But as fans, we also have power here. The simplest, most effective way to prove that women’s rugby is worth sustained investment is to show up. Buy the tickets, watch the broadcasts, talk about the games and wear the jersey. Sport is a numbers game, and every sold seat and viewing figure strengthens the case for more money, better contracts and bigger stages. If you loved the World Cup atmosphere, don’t wait until 2029 to feel it again. The Premiership Women’s Rugby needs you. The Six Nations needs you. The Lions need you.  

The 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup gave us goosebumps, tears, headlines and history: 80,000 fans in the stadium, millions more at home, and Ireland and Scotland smashing through ceilings few thought possible. But it also handed us responsibility. We can either treat it as a glorious summer to look back on or as the start of something transformative. 

My fear? That unions will take the easy option: a few congratulatory press releases, a handful of new contracts, then back to business as usual. My hope? That they won’t dare waste it – not when the players have given everything, not when the fans have shown what’s possible and not when a Lions tour is waiting just around the corner.

This was a turning point. Now we need to decide what comes next.  

Images: Getty