Preview: Red Roses v USA
Everything you need to know as the Red Roses take on the USA on Sunday 29 September.
The fixture marks the opening game of the WXV 1 where the Red Roses will aim to defend the title they earned in New Zealand last year.
The Red Roses come into the tournament after winning their warm-up matches against Les Bleus and the Black Ferns.
After the opening match, the team will face New Zealand again before their final game against hosts, Canada.
| When? | Sunday 29 September |
| Where? | BC Place Stadium, Canada |
| Kick off | 20:30 BST |
| Where can I watch? | BBC iPlayer |
Last time out
Stats and facts
England have won 19 of their previous 20 clashes against the USA, their solitary loss coming in the 1991 Rugby World Cup final.
The USA are unbeaten in three matches (W2, D1), their best such run since 2009 (W2, D1), they’ve not gone four games unbeaten since a streak of four victories in 2006.
England won the inaugural edition of WXV1 in 2023, winning all three of their matches in New Zealand, beating the hosts, Canada and Australia, scoring 18 tries and conceding five.
Half of the 30-player USA squad for this WXV campaign ply their trade in the English Women’s Premiership, Loughborough Lightning, Leicester Tigers and Exeter Chiefs all have four representatives whilst Sale Sharks have two and Ealing Trailfinders one.
Views from camp
John Mitchell: "All the pitches I think are 4G so it'll be pretty quick out there. I'm not sure how well it'll be supported but hopefully it will be supported well because Canadians love their rugby. I think America are going to be a very structured, strong, physical team.
"It’s a destination a lot of the girls haven’t been to before so they’re excited by that. Canada take pride in their rugby; we just want to attack it. That’s where our mindset will be. We had a chat around reinvigorating what that means for us so that we don’t leave anything behind. It’s not the time to become cautious or sit back and watch things happen, it’s about attacking everything we do."
Hannah Botterman: "We had two pretty tough warm-up games going into an even tougher tournament, so I feel like we're in a good space. It’s exciting to finally get on the plane and get out there and play some rugby.
"If you look at it from the outside we won both games, we’re in a good space. I think there's obviously a lot that we can work on and I think that's probably the exciting thing, isn't it? We've won the games, but there's a significant amount of work that we can look at and take away."
Previous encounters
2022: Red Roses 52-14 USA
2021: Red Roses 89-0 USA
2019: Red Roses 38-5 USA
2018: Red Roses 57-5 USA
2017: Red Roses 47-26 USA
