Untouchable England outclasses Canada to win Women's Rugby World Cup in front of record crowd

LONDON (AP) — England finally has a Women's Rugby World Cup title to confirm its utter world domination after outclassing Canada 33-13 in front of a record crowd at Twickenham on Saturday.

The clearcut victory by five tries to two capped an astonishing World Cup cycle in which England won every match, 33 in a row, the greatest streak in international rugby.

The prospect of a home tournament topped by a home champion sold out Twickenham five weeks ago, and 81,885 spectators, the largest crowd in women's rugby history, were treated to a showcase of England's unstoppable power.

England was appearing in a seventh straight World Cup final but had won only one of the previous six, in 2014. The other title was in 1994.

Losing the 2022 final to New Zealand, the last time England tasted defeat, was a bitter blow for the most resourced, most deepest and strongest women's team in world rugby. It drove the Red Roses to get the formula right when the World Cup came home for the first time in 15 years.

“The past certainly dictates the now and the girls hung tough in the whole tournament and connected with the nation,” England coach John Mitchell said.

“I thought we were superb defensively in the tournament; our attack didn't need to be at its best but it was effective enough to get the job done. Canada are a good side but they hadn't come up against us and we were waiting."

Canada bossed everyone, including defending two-time champion New Zealand in the semifinals, en route to its first final in 11 years, validating its No. 2 ranking and unbeaten campaign this year.

But the best offloading team in the tournament with the fastest ruck speed couldn’t get its natural game going, crashing into England's defense. Canada didn't have a plan B.

“We smashed it out there today and I can’t thank the girls enough for putting their bodies on the line,” England captain Zoe Aldcroft said. "There was no doubt in our minds coming into this that we were going to do the job.”

England saved its best performance of the World Cup for last, setting the tone at the first scrum, shoving Canada backward. The English would destroy Canada's scrum and mauls.

Even goalkicking lock Sophie de Goede, at the heart of Canada's impressive performances just two months into her comeback from an ACL tear, was stymied. She got to smile after the final, though, after receiving the world player of the year award ahead of England's Megan Jones and New Zealand's Jorja Miller. De Goede's teammates threw her in the air.

As it did in every game, Canada scored first through glitter-faced right wing Alex Hogan-Rochester from a two-on-one.

The lead lasted only three minutes. Out of nothing, fullback Ellie Kildunne, last year's world player of the year, broke a tackle, stepped a couple more and scorched the cover to score behind the posts.

More Canada errors were turned into points by England.

There was a lineout drive try for hooker Amy Cokayne, who scored three similar tries in the 2022 final. An intercept on halfway by Tatyana Heard was the origin of a try for No. 8 Alex Matthews, playing in her fourth straight final.

Canada had to score next but on England's try-line the ball was poached by Aldcroft. Canada admitted it was struggling by kicking a penalty while 21-5 down.

The half finished with England prop Hannah Botterman greeting her second jackal penalty with a double-fisted roar in delight.

England started the second half with a try by lock Abbie Ward. When Zoe Harrison's conversion attempt hit the post, it was her first miss in 15 goalkicks going back to the pool stage.

While Botterman was in the sin-bin, Hogan-Rochester got her second try for Canada. When another sustained period of pressure died from a knock-on in front of the England posts, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney put his head in his hands.

England put the finishing touches on the biggest win in a final in 27 years when a spiral bomb spun back into its hands and Matthews scored her second try.

New Zealand bowed out in style after slamming six tries against France to win the bronze medal.

Rebounding from their semifinal defeat to Canada, their first loss in a knockout match in 34 years, the world champion Black Ferns won 42-26.

Winger Braxton Sorensen-McGee, the 18-year-old sensation at her first World Cup, scored her 10th and 11th tries, the second highest tally in World Cup history. Only retiring teammate Portia Woodman-Wickliffe scored more; 13 in 2017.

Renee Holmes was the player of the match for a 17-point haul, including five goalkicks from eight off the tee.

New Zealand led 39-7 after an hour then suddenly dropped off tackles and France scored three tries in 10 minutes to flanker Lea Champon and backs Gaby Vernier and Emilie Boulard.

France also scored the opening try by scrumhalf Pauline Bourdon Sansus from an inside pass by retiring co-captain Marine Menager.

But most of the next hour was New Zealand’s with often breathless play started by forwards Kaipo Olsen-Baker, Liana Mikaele-Tu'u and Chryss Viliko.

Sylvia Brunt scored one try and set up two, and sevens superstar Jorja Miller, who missed the semifinal injured, sent in lock Laura Bayfield for 26-7 at halftime.

Then Sorensen-McGee turned it on. A dummy, left-foot step, and 30-meter glide to the try-line. Moments after Woodman-Wickliffe was replaced to huge acclaim, Sorensen-McGee dived in beside the right corner flag.

"There are only three teams that get to win a medal and to be one of those teams, no matter what color it is, we’re so grateful,” Brunt said.

AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

Canada's Sophie de Goede celebrates being named player of the tournament after the Women's Rugby World Cup final match between England and Canada at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham in London, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025.(AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

England's Zoe Aldcroft rasies the trophy after winning the Women's Rugby World Cup final match between England and Canada at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham in London, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025.(AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

England's Zoe Aldcroft holds a trophy as she celebrates with her teammates after winning the Women's Rugby World Cup final match between England and Canada at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, London, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

England's Tatyana Heard is tackled by Canada's Alysha Corrigan during the Women's Rugby World Cup final match between England and Canada at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, London, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025. (Ben Whitley/PA via AP)

Canada's Florence Symonds, left, is stopped by England's Zoe Harrison during the Women's Rugby World Cup final match between England and Canada at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, London, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

England's Alex Matthews scores a try during the Women's Rugby World Cup final match between England and Canada at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham in London, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025.(AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

England's Ellie Kildunne runs to score a try during the Women's Rugby World Cup final match between England and Canada at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham in London, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025.(AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

New Zealand's Renee Holmes, right, celebrates scoring their side's 3rd try of the game a try during the Women's Rugby World Cup bronze match between New Zealand and France at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, London, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025. (Gareth Fuller/PA via AP)

New Zealand's Braxton Sorensen-McGee scores a try during the Women's Rugby World Cup bronze match between New Zealand and France at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, London, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025. (Andrew Matthews/PA via AP)

France's Pauline Bourdon Sansus gets away from New Zealand's Layla Sae, center right, during the Women's Rugby World Cup bronze match between New Zealand and France at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, London, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025. (Ben Whitley/PA via AP)

New Zealand's Braxton Sorensen-McGee, left, scores a try past Gaby Vernier of France, center and Kelly Arbey of France, right, during the Women's Rugby World Cup bronze match between New Zealand and France at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, London, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

NEW YORK (AP) — This is not the run up to the midterm elections that Republicans wanted.

A year and a half after winning the White House by promising to lower costs and end wars, Donald Trump is a wartime president overseeing surging energy costs and an escalating overseas conflict that many in his own party do not like.

He offered little clarity to a nation eager for answers this week during a prime-time address from the White House, his first since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran more than a month ago, simultaneously suggesting that the war was ending and expanding.

“Thanks to the progress we’ve made, I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly, very shortly,” Trump said. “We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks.”

Trump's comments come roughly six months before voters across the nation begin to cast ballots in elections that will decide control of Congress and key governorships for Trump’s final two years in office. For now, Republicans, who control all branches of government in Washington, are bracing for a painful political backlash.

“You’re looking at an ugly November,” warned veteran Republican pollster Neil Newhouse. “At a point in time when we need every break possible to hold the House and Senate, our edge is being chipped away.”

It’s hard to overstate how dramatically the political landscape has shifted.

At this time last year, many Republican leaders believed there was a path to preserve their narrow House majority and easily hold the Senate. Now they privately concede that the House is all but lost and Democrats have a realistic shot at taking the Senate.

Republicans are also struggling to coalesce around a clear midterm message on Iran.

The Republican National Committee has largely avoided the war in talking points issued to surrogates over the last month. The leaders of the party's campaign committees responsible for the House and Senate declined interview requests. Many vulnerable Republican candidates sidestep the issue, unwilling to defend or challenge Trump publicly.

The president remains deeply popular with Republican voters, and he has vocal supporters like Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

“That was the best speech I could’ve hoped for,” he wrote on social media after Trump's address on Wednesday evening. Graham said Trump “gave the American people a clear and coherent pathway forward.”

Trump made little effort to sell the conflict to Americans before the initial attack. Five weeks later, at least 13 U.S. service members have been killed and hundreds more injured. Thousands more troops have converged on the region, and the Pentagon requested $200 billion in new funding.

The Strait of Hormuz, a key passage for a fifth of the world’s oil, remains closed. The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. was $4.08 on Thursday, according to AAA, almost a full dollar higher than on President Joe Biden's last day in office.

On Wednesday, Trump insisted that gas prices would fall quickly once the war concluded but offered no solution for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, he invited skeptical U.S. allies to do it themselves.

He insisted that the war would be worth it.

“This is a true investment in your grandchildren and your grandchildren’s future,” Trump said. “When it’s all over, the United States will be safer, stronger, more prosperous and greater than it has ever been before.”

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who was once among Trump's most vocal allies in Congress, lashed out against his Iran policy.

“I wanted so much for President Trump to put America First. That’s what I believed he would do. All I heard from his speech tonight was WAR WAR WAR,” she wrote on social media. “Nothing to lower the cost of living for Americans.”

About 6 in 10 U.S. adults say the U.S. military action in Iran has “gone too far,” according to AP-NORC polling from March. Roughly a third approve of how he’s handling Iran overall.

The possibility of sending U.S. forces into Iran also appears politically unpalatable.

About 6 in 10 adults are “strongly” or “somewhat” opposed to deploying U.S. troops on the ground to fight Iran. That includes about half of Republicans. Only about 1 in 10 favor deploying troops.

At the same time, Trump’s approval ratings have remained consistently weak. About 4 in 10 Americans approve of how he’s handling the presidency, roughly in line with how it’s been throughout his second term.

Republican strategist Ari Fleischer, a senior aide in former President George W. Bush’s administration, acknowledged that Trump has not received the polling bump in this war that Bush got after invading Iraq.

Bush, of course, worked to build public backing for the Iraq War before going in. Immediately after the 2003 invasion, Bush's popularity soared, as did the stock market.

Public sentiment and the economy soured only after the conflict stretched on. It ultimately spanned more than eight years, spawning a generation of anti-war Republicans — and sowing the seeds of Trump's “America First” foreign policy.

“My hope is that the Trump experience is the exact opposite of the Bush experience,” Fleischer said.

He said Trump must win the war decisively and quickly to avoid a further backlash, saying there could be a “very significant political upside if things end well, oil comes down and markets rally.”

Fleischer added that Trump's actions will matter much more than his words.

“Ultimately, he is not going to get judged on his persuasion or his explanations or his assertions, he’s going to get judged on results,” he said.

Associated Press writer Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.

In this image made with a long exposure, President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)