Ireland Seeded Sixth For Rugby World Cup Draw

Ireland’s recent form in the WXV1 sees the team ranked 6th ahead of tonight’s Pool draw for Rugby World Cup 2025. Following the draw, the match schedule will be released on Tuesday 22 October.

England, Canada, New Zealand and France have confirmed their place in the top band of teams entering the draw for Women’s Rugby Cup 2025, which can be watched live on the BBC’s The One Show, airing from from 19:00 (GMT+1), and globally (including the UK) it will be streamed live at 19:20 (GMT+1) on RugbyPass TV.

After becoming back-to-back WXV 1 champions with a 21-12 win over Canada at BC Place in Vancouver on Saturday, England will go into the draw as the highest-rated team of all-time – men’s or women’s.

Newly-crowned WXV 2 champions Australia, who lost to Ireland in the recent IRFU 150 Celebration Match,  head up band two as the fifth seeds, with Ireland, Scotland and Italy joining them. The Wallaroos swapped places with Scotland after they beat last year’s winners 31-22 in Saturday’s title decider in Cape Town.

Italy moved into band two thanks to a 23-19 win over South Africa, displacing the USA, who finished bottom of WXV 1 after suffering three straight defeats.

As the team ranked in ninth, the Women’s Eagles are in band three along with Wales, Japan and South Africa.

WXV 3 2024 winners Spain head up band four along with runners-up Samoa, Fiji and the lowest-ranked team in the draw, Brazil.

The top four teams in the rankings will be placed into band 1 and prepopulated into the first position in each pool. The remaining 12 teams will be drawn into bands 2,3 and 4 based on their rankings and drawn one by one.

Women’s RWC 2025 Draw Bands (ranking in brackets)

Band 1: England (1), Canada (2), New Zealand (3), France (4)
Band 2: Australia (5), Ireland (6), Scotland (7), Italy (8)
Band 3: USA (9), Wales (10), Japan (11), South Africa (12)
Band 4: Spain (13), Samoa (15), Fiji (17), Brazil (42)

Ticket Information

All fans will have the opportunity to apply for tickets for all matches from 11:00 (GMT +1) on Tuesday 5 November until 11:00 (GMT+1) on Tuesday 19 November. Ballots will be used for any price categories which are oversubscribed. Fans can register to be the first to hear about ticket news here. 

Prior to the two-week ticket application phase, Worldwide Partner Mastercard is offering its cardholders access to a 48-hour priority sale for all matches from 11:00 (GMT +1) on Tuesday 22 October until 11:00 (GMT+1) on Thursday 24 October. Only Mastercard card payments will be accepted during this priority window.