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Thursday

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Women's Internationals

WXV Global Series 2026: Week 1 talking points

Joe Harvey

Published: 33 minutes ago | 14 September 2026 08:23 PDT
Updated: 31 minutes ago | 14 September 2026 08:24 PDT

SALFORD, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 12: Megan Jones of England celebrates scoring a try which is later disallowed during the WXV Global Series match between England Red Roses and Australia on September 12, 2026 in Salford, England. (Photo by Charlotte Tattersall - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

WXV Global Series 2026 started at the weekend with a trio of fixtures.

Over the weekend we saw Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 champions England beat Australia 48-15, Canada were 64-26 winners over Scotland, and the Black Ferns registered a 28-14 win over France.

There were plenty of storylines wherever you looked. And it is only just the start.

Here are three things we learned from the first weekend of WXV Global Series action…

Red Roses will benefit from rough first half

Everyone was a little stunned when the Red Roses went into half-time trailing the Wallaroos in Salford. Across the first half, Australia were by far the better team. Australia played with a physicality and intensity that we have rarely seen from the side before. It was thoroughly enjoyable stuff.

As England head coach John Mitchell said at full-time, it was “a joke” to suggest that his players went into half-time remotely concerned by their predicament. Their reaction – seven second-half tries and a 48-15 full-time scoreline – tells you as much.

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It was only as the Wallaroos began to tire and the England bench emptied that the Red Roses gained full control of the fixture. The introductions of Hannah Botterman and Maud Muir in the front row went a long way to locking momentum on the hosts’ side.

Plus, it is not the first time we have seen this from England. At the Guinness Women’s Six Nations, the Red Roses often won big, although they did struggle for consistency. By the time England got to the Grand Slam decider in Bordeaux, they had managed to find coherence across the park.

You have to think that England will benefit from a tough 40 minutes. It was England’s first Test match since May, while the Wallaroos most recently played in late August. Getting back up to speed is part of the game too.

Against a Canada team that showed little sign of dullness against Scotland in Edinburgh, England now must front up early and slow down the approach of the North Americans this Saturday. Never mind what the Black Ferns will bring a week later at Allianz Stadium.

Black Ferns develop depth

It would have been understandable if there had been a little bit of concern surrounding the Black Ferns. Ahead of their 28-14 victory against France in Lyon, it was confirmed that Ruahei Demant was going to miss the first match of their WXV Global Series campaign. So too were Ayesha Leti-I’iga and her 24 Test tries. Add that to the loss of Kaipo Olsen-Baker, and you had a key trio out of action for their season-defining tour of their calendar year.

But even in the face of these high-profile stars being absent, the Black Ferns have been unfazed. Just as they have been all year since Whitney Hansen took over as head coach at the start of this calendar year.

In the absence of Demant, Leti-I’iga and Olsen-Baker, each of Hannah King, Justine McGregor and Liana Mikaele-Tu’u stepped up to the plate admirably.

Mikaele-Tu’u’s installation as a hard-carrying, hard-hitting Test No. 8 has been remarkable. We always had an idea of how talented the 24-year-old is, but against France we got to see the forward thrive in the tight confines of a close contest against Les Bleues. Especially in a back-row alongside the high work-rate Elinor-Plum King and Mia Anderson.

Of course, the challenges will come thick and fast. First, Scotland on Saturday and then England at Allianz Stadium. Taking on the Red Roses will undoubtedly be the sternest challenge that New Zealand face in September. A three-Test series against France on home soil will be intriguing, but it will only be against the world’s best that Hansen gets a true representation of where her team are in the grand scheme of things.

Olivia Apps’ form hits new heights

There have been plenty of positives to talk about when it comes to Olivia Apps’ rugby this past year.

In the past 12 months alone, the 27-year-old has helped Saracens to a JAECOO Premiership Women’s Rugby title, was named the English top-flight’s player of the season and even took time to help Canada to third place at the HSBC SVNS World Championship.

On Saturday, as Canada ran riot in Edinburgh to register a 64-26 win, Apps scored a pair of tries and had her fingerprints all over several more tries. It really does seem like the scrum-half is at a stage of her career where everything she touches turns to gold.

It is the half-back’s quick thinking that does a lot of the work for her. Something, no doubt, curated in the shorter format of the game. A lot of the time, Apps has made her decision in the seconds before she even touches the ball. For Canada, that is the reason that they were able to rack up a 31-12 lead at the break.

For Kévin Rouet to then be able to put Justine Pelletier on the pitch with 20 minutes still left on the clock, Canada have the perfect double-punch at their disposal.