Dream Women's Final the highlight
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:35
New Zealand's Victoria Grant in action against France in the semifinals. (c) Getty
The Women's Rugby World Cup, being played in England, reaches its final round on Sunday with England and New Zealand again competeing for the trophy.
This will be the third Women's Rugby World Cup Final in a row in which New Zealand play England. New Zealand won the previous two - 19-9 in Barcelona and 25-17 in Edmonton, both fairly close affairs.
Since Canada, England have beaten the Black Ferns and this promises to be a close final. Certainly it is between the best two teams at the Women's World Cup, as they have usually been.
England have played in five of the six finals so far, winning in Edinburgh in 1994. Then came the Black Ferns and they took over with four successive wins.
In 1992, when England did not play in the final after being hammered 44-11 by New Zealand in the semis, they won the third-place play-off 85-15 against Canada. That year was the first in which the International Rugby Board recognised the Women's Rugby World Cup.
The result of the Final is far from a foregone conclusion. The last time the two teams met, at Twickenham in November, England won 10-3.
Women's Rugby World Cup Finals:
1991: USA beat England 19-6 in Cardiff
1994: England beat USA 38-23 in Edinburgh
1998: New Zealand beat USA 44-12 in Amsterdam
2002: New Zealand beat England 19-9 on Barcelona
2006: New Zealand beat England 25-17 in Edmonton, Canada
Final 2010 fixtures:
Eleventh place play-Off
11.00: Sweden vs Kazakhstan at Surrey Sports Park (Pitch 2), Guildford
Ninth place play-Off
13.15: Wales vs South Africa at Surrey Sports Park (Pitch 2), Guildford
Seventh place play-Off
11.15: Ireland vs Scotland at Surrey Sports Park (Pitch 1), Guildford
Fifth place play-Off
13.30: USA vs Canada at Surrey Sports Park (Pitch 1), Guildford
Third place play-Off
15.00: France vs Australia at Twickenham Stoop, Twickenham
Final
17.15: New Zealand vs England at Twickenham Stoop, Twickenham
Match officials:
Kazakhstan vs Sweden at Surrey 2
Referee: Gabriel Lee Wing Yi (Hong Kong)
Assistant referees: Clare Daniels (England), Sara Cox (England)
South Africa vs Wales at Surrey 1
Referee: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Nicky Inwood (New Zealand), Natalie Amor (England)
Scotland vs Ireland Surrey at 2
Referee: Joyce Henry (Canada)
Assistant referees: Clare Daniels (England), Sherry Trumbull (Canada)
Canada vs USA at Surrey 1
Referee: Sébastien Minery (France)
Assistant referees: Javier Mancuso (Argentina), Barbara
Guastini (Italy)
France vs Australia at The Stoop
Referee: Dana Teagarden (USA)
Assistant referees: David Keane (Ireland), Debbie Innes (England)
New Zealand vs England at The Stoop
Referee: Sarah Corrigan (Australia)
Assistant referees: David Keane (Ireland), Kerstin Ljungdahl (Germany)
Television match official: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)
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