Season 3: Episode 1 - Summer Ready
On Sunday night it’s the final round of the Women’s Rugby Super Series in San Diego, California where the world’s top two teams come together as England take on New Zealand.
So far, England have defeated USA (38-5), Canada (19-17) and France (20-18), while New Zealand’s tournament has seen them overcome Canada (35-20) and USA (33-0), but they were beaten 16-25 in their last outing against France.
Last time out
It was been nearly two years since England and New Zealand last met each other on the biggest stage in the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup final in Belfast.
It was an enthralling 80 minutes watched by 2.3 million people in the UK alone, where the Red Roses raced into a 17-5 lead in the first half as the forwards took control of the game, with England’s pressure rewarded with a penalty try, Lydia Thompson’s smart finish and an Emily Scarratt penalty.
In between a stunning individual score from Thompson and a late consolation try from Izzy Noel-Smith, the Kiwis ran in another six tries including a hat-trick for prop Toka Natua as they won 41-32 and their fifth world title.
Form guide
Since that final in 2017, England have responded in impressive fashion with 19 wins from 20 games, and are currently on a 12-match winning streak.
Their first series after that tournament saw them whitewash Canada over three November Tests while in the 2018 Women’s Six Nations it took a last-minute Jessy Tremouliere try for France to beat England 18-17, their only defeat on their current run.
Three wins from three in the most recent November Quilter Internationals continued England’s good form and in the Six Nations this year they completed a Grand Slam with bonus-point wins over each team they faced, and have continued their winning run so far in the Super Series with three victories.
The Black Ferns have been beaten twice in the same period of time, with both defeats coming against France. Nine months ago in Grenoble the French won an epic game 30-27 and then made it back-to-back wins with the 25-16 victory in the Super Series.
Hunter makes history
The match against New Zealand will also bring up a landmark moment for Red Roses captain Sarah Hunter as she reaches 116 caps to outright second on England’s all-time most appearances.
A World Cup winner in 2014 in France, Hunter went level with Tamara Taylor on 115 caps in the last game against Les Bleus with a typically industrious performance in carrying and defence.
Named again at No 8, Hunter only has former team mate Rocky Clark ahead of her in terms of all-time appearances as she stands outright on 137 caps.
The 2014 World Cup winner was named World Rugby’s Women’s Player of the Year in 2016 and led the Red Roses to a Six Nations Grand Slam earlier this year.
Coverage
The build-up and the full live game is available on Sky Sports Main Event and Action, with kick-off at 21:00 BST.
The England Rugby Instagram page will be bring you behind the scenes build-up from San Diego State University Torero Stadium, you can follow live score updates on England Rugby Twitter with post match highlights, the match report and all the relevant news on EnglandRugby.com.
Quotes
England head coach Simon Middleton said: “We’re really looking forward to facing New Zealand in what should be a great end to the Super Series.
“We’ve shown real character in the past two matches to come away with late victories and we saw a significant step up in our performance against France. However, we know we will have to go up another level this Sunday as we’re facing the world champions.
“On their day they are one of the most challenging teams to play against but we have spoken about peaking in performance for this final game of the series, and that is what we will be expecting.
“The belief and focus of the squad has been evident in our preparation and now it is about delivering that on the field this Sunday.”
New Zealand head coach Glenn Moore said: “"We're looking forward to getting out there this weekend. Overall it was tough out there the other day against France, but we can't make any excuses.
"We didn't play well enough to win. We welcome the seven-day turnaround between this game after playing three games in eight days."
