This afternoon the semi finals of the Womens Rugby World Cup will take place as favourites New Zealand play France, while hosts England face Australia at the Twickenham Stoop.
Three time champions New Zealand will be looking to make it to the final and pick up their fourth successive trophy as they play France in the first semi final. At this stage, theyre looking strong and its hard to know if the French will be able to stand up to their might, even if they will be in their unfamiliar changed strip of white jerseys.
They now have 17 consecutive World Cup wins, dating all the way back to 1991. Loose forward Casey Robertson is unsure of what to expect from France today.
“They are such an unknown team. They played so poorly against Sweden, who they should have put away, and I think they will definitely put out a big first 40 against us.
“We need to stay on top of them and go out there and finish it off. We beat them well in the last World Cup but they were still scrapping till the end. The hard thing with France is that once they know they are beaten it turns into a a scrap so you have to just focus on staying controlled and disciplined,” she said as she aims for her third World Cup title.
In the later game, England, top seeds after the pool stages, host old rivals Australia in what should be a fascinating meeting with a massive crowd in attendance.
“This is a huge game and as such we have picked an extremely experienced side to take on the Australian challenge,” said coach Gary Street.
“It’s certainly going to be exciting to play at the Stoop and we are hoping to have the same great support that we have enjoyed at the Surrey Sports Park.
“The Australia-England rivalry is great in every sporting contest and I am sure it will be no different on Wednesday. This is going to be a tough semi final and we won’t be taking anything for granted. There are definitely no easy games in a World Cup semi-final.”
You can watch both games live online at
Rwcwomens.com
, as well as highlights and replays of previous matches. New Zealand play France at 18:00 local time, while England host Australia in their game at 20:15. If youre in the UK or Ireland, you can watch on Sky Sports.
Time:
04:17
Note:
Thanks to the IRB
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