Women’s Rugby World Cup Quarter-Finals: New Zealand, Canada, France, and England Eye Final Four Spots
by Geoffrey Ejiga | by Geoffrey Ejiga
New Zealand vs South Africa
The women’s rugby World Cup quarterfinals kick off with New Zealand facing South Africa. Despite South Africa's outstanding pool stage performances, our analysts believe any outcome other than a New Zealand victory must require a major upset. See our New Zealand vs South Africa prediction for expert game insights.
The six-time holders and defending champions are unbeaten in seven fixtures, winning six of those. Even more impressive is the fact that they beat Ireland 40-0, Japan 62-19, and Spain 54-8. South Africa, however, won’t be rolling over. The Springboks knocked out Brazil 66–6, then scraped past Italy in the second match. After that, they fell hard to France, losing 57–10.
For South Africa, holding the free-scoring New Zealand will likely be the approach if they hope to upset tournament favorites.
Canada vs Australia
Heading into this quarterfinal clash, there is a lot to separate the Canada and Australia rugby teams. Canada won all three of their pool games, defeating Fiji 65–7, Wales 42–0, and Scotland 40–19. With such exceptional performances, Canada will be very confident about a victory over Australia, and fans might just be expecting another blowout game.
In truth, it is shaping up to be a challenging game for Australia, which experienced the bumpiest ride to the quarter-finals. They started brilliantly with a 73–0 thrashing of Samoa, then stumbled in a 31–31 draw with the USA. Their final pool game against England, when Australia lost 7-47, was the nail in the coffin, revealing plenty of signs of weakness.
France vs Ireland
Although England takes on Scotland in the fourth quarterfinal game, many fans are calling France vs Ireland the most exciting knockout game. Both sides not only battle for a place in the semifinals but also for the chance to win their first-ever World Cup. See what this game holds in our France vs Ireland prediction.
Looking at their journeys to the quarterfinals, France have been clinical in the pool, thrashing Italy 24–0, Brazil 84–5, and South Africa 57–10. Naturally, the books have placed France as the favorite to progress, and it shouldn't be a surprise, as the Frenchmen have overcome their Irish opponents 11 times over their last 12 meetings.
England vs Scotland
Few rivalries light up rugby like England vs Scotland, and tomorrow’s quarterfinal puts everything at stake. This is Scotland's first World Cup quarterfinal since 2022, this may as well be their stop as they face an England side who's entering this with a record-equalling 30-match winning streak.
While they remain true rivals, Scotland may need a miracle to overcome England, whom they've not lost to in their last ten meetings with an aggregate score of 586 to just 50 (586-50).
If Scotland hopes to progress to the World Cup semifinals, they must pull off the biggest upset in tournament history to knock out their old rivals. But it almost looks impossible considering their contrasting tournament forms. England thundered through the pool stage, thrashing Australia (47-7), Samoa (92-3), and the USA (69-7). Meanwhile, Scotland did impress against Wales and Fiji, but fell hard when faced against a superior team in their 40-19 loss to Canada.
