Women's Rugby World Cup 2025: Round 2 Top Performers

There were some remarkable individual and team performances the length and breadth of England as the second weekend of the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 delivered a bucketful of highlights, including two players bringing up a half-century of Test tries and the first genuine shock result in the tournament since Ireland beat New Zealand in 2014.

The day after Jess Breach’s hat-trick for England in the record 92-3 win against Samoa took her past the 50-mark, Portia Woodman-Wickliffe became the first New Zealand rugby player to reach the treasured milestone, breaking Doug Howlett’s longstanding record in crossing for her side’s first try against Japan.

While England and New Zealand have dominated women’s international rugby for many a year, newcomers Brazil became everyone’s favourite second team when Bianca Silva ran more than half the length of the Sandy Park pitch to score their first Rugby World Cup try in the final match of the weekend against France. Brazil’s fans, and their adopted followers, celebrated as if they’d won the world title.

Springbok Women captain on play-off spot

Springbok Women captain on play-off spot

Meanwhile, South Africa’s women, who for so long have been in the shadow of the Springboks, seized the opportunity to take centre stage with a 29-24 win against Italy, which saw them reach the quarter-finals for the first time in history.

Here, we give a rundown of the players who topped the charts in the main attack/defence categories from data supplied by Opta.

Tries
1= Jess Breach (England) 3
1= Braxton Sorensen-McGee (New Zealand) 3
3. Multiple players x 2

Breach went one better than in round one by scoring a hat-trick, to take her overall tally for the tournament to five, after retaining her place in an otherwise much-changed Red Roses’ team vs Samoa. New Zealand’s teen sensation Braxton Sorensen-McGee also dotted down for three tries in a spectacular display against Japan, which also saw her carry for 207 metres, the most of any player in round two.

Try Assists
1. Nassira Konde (France) 4
2= Multiple players x 2

Always in the right time and the right place, Konde was the link in the chain that led to four tries for teammates. Simple catch and pass skill execution was all that was needed for the first three assists, but the fourth – after she had scored herself – was the result of a good offload under pressure.

Points
1. Helena Rowland (England) 27
2. Braxton Sorensen-McGee (New Zealand) 23
3. Lina Queyroi (France) 19

Rowland certainly didn’t want for opportunities to kick at goal, with England crossing the Samoan line 14 times. The three kicks she missed were all on the right-hand side of the posts, two hugging the touchline. Rowland is now the second-highest scorer at the tournament behind Canada’s six-try star from round one, Julia Schell. Sorensen-McGee complemented her try hat-trick with four conversions from six attempts.

Ball Carries
1= Sophie de Goede (Canada) 20
1= Keia Mae Sagapolu Sanele (USA) 20
3= Claudia Pena (Spain) 19
3= Hope Rogers (USA) 19

A few caps into her return from a long injury lay-off, de Goede served up a reminder of her brilliant all-round ability. In addition to kicking six from six off the tee, the No.8 was perpetually in motion, either carrying the ball herself or stopping opponents in their tracks. Keia Mae Sagapolu Sanele was equally impressive in the carry stakes, clattering into Australian defenders at will during the USA’s 31-all draw against the Wallaroos.

Defenders Beaten
Emilie Boulard (France) 10
Marine Menager (France) 8
Portia Woodman-Wickliffe (New Zealand) 8
Kolora Lomani (Fiji) 8

Making her first appearance of the tournament and only her fourth of the year, Boulard had a field day in Exeter. The full-back stepped her way to the try line for Les Bleues’ first score and added another in the second half as she continued to bamboozle the Brazilian defence with her footwork. Team-mate Marine Menager also bagged a brace and beat eight defenders, along with New Zealand’s Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, in the Black Ferns’ win against Japan, and Kolara Lomani, in Fiji’s defeat to Scotland.

Line Breaks
Claudia Moloney-MacDonald (England) 7
Jess Breach (England) 7
Braxton Sorensen-McGee (New Zealand) 5
Asia Hogan-Rochester (Canada) 5

England broke through Samoa’s defence at will in chalking up a record 92-3 win, and Claudia Moloney-MacDonald and hat-trick scorer Jess Breach were the chief protagonists. Having set up so many opportunities herself, Moloney-MacDonald had the final word when she crossed for the Red Roses’ 14th and final try in the last minute. Their tally of seven line breaks was only two short of the record of nine, since Opta started collecting Women’s Rugby World Cup data, set by Portia Woodman-Wickliffe on her way to eight tries against Hong Kong China in 2017.

Successful Tackles
1. Evie Gallagher (Scotland) 35
2. Rachel Malcolm (Scotland) 25
3= Multiple players 23

Gallagher came very close to breaking the tournament record of 38 set by Japan’s Ayano Sakurai vs Australia in 2017 (since Opta started collecting data in 2017) after an immense defensive effort vs Fiji. Her captain, Rachel Malcolm, actually had a better tackle ratio in terms of game time, with a tackle nearly every other minute. Malcolm spent 51 minutes on the Salford Community Stadium pitch, whereas Gallagher lasted the duration.

Dominant Tackles
1. Eloise Webb (South Africa) 4
2= Multiple players 2

Any player wearing a Springbok on their chest, even outside backs like Webb, knows only one way to tackle – to hit hard. Webb, a half-time sub, wasn’t on long enough to break into double figures in the tackle count, but the majority of the ones she did put in stopped Italian attackers dead in their tracks, as the Springbok Women hung on to record a famous win.

Turnovers won
1. Ilona Maher (USA) 3
2= Multiple players 2

Credit to Maher, she is justifying the hype with her performances at this Women’s Rugby World Cup. After topping the post-contact metres made chart in round one, the social media star made her presence felt where it hurts – at the breakdown. For someone who had only played a handful of Tests before this year, the sevens convert has mastered the art of staying on her feet at the ruck and competing for the ball really well.