Your guide to World Cup final between England and Canada

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England fans wearing Red Roses cowboy hatsImage source, Getty Images

Image caption,

A capacity crowd at Twickenham is expected for Saturday's final

England and Canada will meet on Saturday in the World Cup final as the two highest ranked teams in women's rugby union chase the sport's biggest prize.

World number one outfit and tournament hosts England overcame France to reach their seventh successive final.

England, who have been fully professional since 2019, are bidding to win the World Cup for a third time and are targeting a first title since beating Canada in the 2014 final.

The Red Roses have won a world record 32 successive Test matches and go into the final as favourites.

They are also seeking to make up for the heartbreak of the 2022 final where their 30-match winning streak was ended in a 34-31 loss to New Zealand.

Canada outclassed defending champions New Zealand on Friday to reach their second final.

They are not professional and set up a £530,000 (C$1m) fundraising drive - titled Mission: Win Rugby World Cup - to help them prepare for the tournament.

The final, which kicks off at 16:00 BST, will be shown live on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.

Where is the final being played?

The final will be held at Twickenham in front of what is set to a record crowd for a one-off women's rugby match.

Tickets for the 82,000-capacity Allianz Stadium sold out a month ago, with the attendance therefore set to beat the record of 58,498 from when England played France in the 2023 Six Nations.

View of an empty Twickenham stadiumImage source, Getty Images

Image caption,

Twickenham hosted the men's World Cup finals in 1991 and 2015

Who are the captains?

England are captained by Zoe Aldcroft. Born in Scarborough, the 28-year-old can play as a lock but has featured as a blind-side flanker in the past two matches. She missed the second and third pool stage games, having suffered a knee injury in the win over the United States that opened the tournament on 22 August.

Canada are led by centre Alex Tessier. This is her third World Cup, and she has played for Exeter Chiefs since 2023.

Who are the coaches?

England are coached by former All Blacks boss John Mitchell. The 61-year-old New Zealander worked with the England men's team's forwards from 1997 to 2000, and was their defence coach from 2018 to 2021. He succeeded Simon Middleton as head coach of the women's team in 2023 and has won every game since taking over.

Canada's head coach is 38-year-old Frenchman Kevin Rouet. He joined the Canada women's set-up in 2019 as assistant coach and stepped up to succeed Sandro Fiorino in 2022.

Who are the star players?

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England's Kildunne 'proved why she's world's best player'

England's Ellie Kildunne is the face of the tournament, and she bounced back from missing the quarter-final win over Scotland after a concussion injury by delivering in fine style against France.

The full-back hit her stride with two superb tries at Ashton Gate, having only flickered briefly in her two previous outings at this World Cup.

She was also sporting eye-catching cheetah-print footwear from her boot sponsor for the first time, and has been prominent in much of the advertising for the tournament.

Canada standout Sophie de Goede is a rugby rarity as a goal-kicking lock forward, and with 58 points she is the second-highest scorer in the World Cup so far.

The final offers her a chance to go past New Zealand's Braxton Sorensen-McGee, who has 59 points prior to the third-placed play-off against France that takes place before the final itself.

De Goede's 20 conversions are the most in the tournament, and the 26-year-old has also kicked one penalty and crossed for three tries.

Who are the teams' leading try-scorers?

Media caption,

Schell steals the show with six second-half tries as Canada hammer Fiji

England have scored 43 tries in the tournament, while Canada have managed 35.

Full-back Julia Schell has scored six tries for Canada, all in an extraordinary 23-minute spell in her side's opening pool match against Fiji.

Wing Jess Breach has crossed the whitewash six times for England, including a hat-trick in the thumping victory over Samoa. Prop forward Kelsey Clifford has scored five and Kildunne four.

Head-to-head record

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'We've got one more job to do' - Canada through to final

England and Canada have faced each other 37 times, with England winning 33 of these encounters, Canada three, and there was a 13-13 draw at the 2014 World Cup.

England are on a roll, having won the last 13 meetings between the sides, with Canada's last win coming in Salt Lake City just over nine years ago.

Notable wins for England over Canada include the 21-9 victory in the 2014 World Cup final, a 26-19 win in the World Cup semi-final in New Zealand in 2022, and the 21-12 result in the teams' last encounter in Vancouver in WXV1 in October 2024.

Route to the final

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Why Canada beating New Zealand is a 'tectonic' result

England reached the final with a 35-17 win over France at Ashton Gate, extending their world record winning run to 32 matches.

They had powered past Scotland 40-8 in the quarter-finals, having beaten the United States, Samoa and Australia to win Pool A.

The Red Roses have scored 283 points across their five games and conceded just 42.

Canada reached Twickenham thanks to an enthralling 34-19 win over defending world champions New Zealand in their semi-final.

Prior to this, they won Group B through wins over Fiji, Wales and Scotland before seeing off Australia 46-5 at the quarter-final stage.

Previous World Cup finals

There have been nine previous Women's World Cups but only three nations have lifted the trophy - New Zealand (six times), England (twice) and the United States (once).

England have played in eight finals but only won two of them, in 1994 and 2014.

Canada lost on their only previous appearance in a final, falling to England in 2014.

The United States won the inaugural tournament in Cardiff.

2021: New Zealand 34-31 England - Eden Park, Auckland*

*competition was postponed to 2022 because of Covid pandemic

2017: New Zealand 41-32 England - Ravenhill, Belfast

2014: England 21-9 Canada - Stade Jean-Bouin, Paris

2010: New Zealand 13-10 England - Twickenham Stoop, London

2006: New Zealand 25-17 England - Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton

2002: New Zealand 19-9 England - Olympic Stadium, Barcelona

1998: New Zealand 44-12 USA - National Rugby Centre Stadium, Amsterdam

1994: England 38-23 USA - Raeburn Place, Edinburgh

1991: USA 19-6 England - Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff

Media caption,

The last time England won the Rugby World Cup

What happens if the scores are level at full-time?

If the teams are tied at full-time the match will go into sudden-death extra time.

There are two halves of 10 minutes allocated and the first team to score any points will win the match.

If there is still no winner after the sudden-death period, a kicking competition involving five players from each side will take place.

When is the World Cup final?

The final takes place at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday, 27 September.

How can I follow the World Cup final?

The match kicks off at 16:00 BST and will be shown live on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.

BBC One & iPlayer will be live from 15:00 until 18:35, with radio commentary of the whole match on Sports Extra from 15:45 and on 5 Live from 17:00.

There will be live text and video highlights on the BBC Sport website from 15:00.

Is there a third-place play-off?

Losing semi-finalists New Zealand and France face each other in the Rugby World Cup third-place play-off.

The match takes place before the final at Twickenham on Saturday, 27 September at 12:30 BST.

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