Then there were four: What we learned from RWC 2025 quarter-finals

Twenty-eight matches played, two weekends to go and only four teams remain.

Hosts England became the fourth team to book their place in the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 semi-finals with a performance so good against Scotland it even had John Mitchell purring.

That 40-8 victory came at the end of a weekend in which South Africa gave New Zealand a fright, Canada downed Australia and France overcame Ireland by the tightest of margins.

Attention now turns to Bristol where the back-to-back defending champions, the Black Ferns take on Canada before the Red Roses run out against France. Whatever happens at Ashton Gate we are guaranteed a final that pits a Pacific Four Series side against a team from the Women’s Six Nations.

Portia Woodman-Wickliffe receives Women’s Top 50 award

New Zealand Women’s superstar Portia Woodman-Wickliffe spoke to RugbyPass after receiving the prestigious, inaugural RugbyPass Women’s Top 50 award this week.

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Portia Woodman-Wickliffe receives Women’s Top 50 award

New Zealand Women’s superstar Portia Woodman-Wickliffe spoke to RugbyPass after receiving the prestigious, inaugural RugbyPass Women’s Top 50 award this week.

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This is what we learned from the quarter-finals.

Ireland, South Africa inspire despite defeats

World Cups are all about results, especially in the knockout stage. Lose and you go home.

However, this weekend highlighted how teams and players can inspire even while they watch their tournament hopes go up in flames.

That was certainly the case at Sandy Park, where first South Africa and then Ireland did so much to make their fans proud as they provided a glimpse of a potentially bright future.

On Saturday afternoon there was a genuinely upbeat mood in the dissection of the Springbok Women’s defeat to New Zealand.

Swys de Bruin, Nolusindiso Booi and Babalwa Latsha each spoke eloquently about the legacy South Africa hope to have created during their time in England.

Fast forward 24 hours and while the mood in the Irish camp was much less jubilant following their five-point loss to France, the message was clear.

“Times are changing for women’s rugby” Dannah O’Brien insisted and the fly-half, still a week away from turning 22, is at the heart of an exciting generation of young Irish talent.

“Maybe in another four years,” she added, “we get past that quarter-final stage and into the semi-finals where we hope to be.”

Springbok Women ‘brought it’

South Africa were in many ways the story of the quarter-finals, taking the game to the Black Ferns in the first half of the opening knockout game like few expected.

The 13-player lineouts and 15-women driving mauls generated headlines in the aftermath of New Zealand’s 46-17 victory.

But the novelty of those plays cannot distract from what was an immensely committed performance from the Springbok Women.

South Africa took the game to the Black Ferns in a way that few teams have managed, forcing the six-time defending champions into 252 tackles as they dominated territory and possession, particularly in the opening 40 minutes.

Unorthodox set-piece plays can only get you so far, those sorts of numbers suggest a commitment and ability that cannot be ignored.

“South Africa absolutely brought it,” Black Ferns hooker Georgia Ponsonby said. “Obviously with a 7-1 split on the bench we knew what kind of game we were going to come up against.

“They mauled, scrummed and pick-and-goed against us, we were definitely on defence for a long amount of time, so we were putting in the hard yards as forwards especially.”

Only time will tell how much that effort took out of six-time world champions heading into the semi-finals.

‘Forwards win matches’

As the old saying goes, ‘forwards win matches, backs decide by how much’.

In the World Cup quarter-finals, the forwards definitely held the key to the outcome. The Player of the Match from each contest came from the pack.

That trend started in Exeter, where Kaipo Olsen-Baker put in a ridiculous 26 tackles and also came up with a crucial brace of tries for the Black Ferns.

In Saturday’s second last-eight clash, Canada’s Sophie de Goede continued to put her hand up for the player of the tournament gong with another outstanding all-court performance.

The goal-kicking lock ended the 46-5 defeat of Australia with 13 points and was a constant presence on both sides of the ball.

On Sunday, Charlotte Escudero emulated Olsen-Baker by claiming the Player of the Match award from number eight.

Escudero did more than any other player in blue to overturn France’s 13-point deficit against Ireland, scoring the try that kick-started their revival.

And another second row was anointed in Bristol as England saw off Scotland on Sunday afternoon.

Morwenna Talling told RugbyPass this week that she feels like a “valuable” cog in the Red Roses machine and she certainly proved that at Ashton Gate.