Over little more than five weeks, Guardian writers have followed every step of England’s 2025 Rugby World Cup journey from the opening match at the Stadium of Light to the final at Twickenham. Here are our favourite pictures coupled with excerpts from our match reports and blogs.Line breakGame 1: Pool A22 August, Stadium of Light, SunderlandEngland 69 Tries Kabeya, Botterman, Muir, Kildunne (2), Dow, Cokayne, Breach (2), Atkin-Davies (2) Cons Harrison (6), Sing
USA 7 Try Jarrell-Searcy Con: Hawkins
The two teams take to the pitch for the opening match of the tournament. Photograph above: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
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The crowd for this opening game was bigger than the combined attendance for the entire tournament in 2010 and, from watching it, you would bet World Rugby spent more on the fireworks that were let loose from the stadium roof in the minutes before kick-off than it did staging that entire edition of the competition.No wonder Marlie Packer and Emily Scarratt and a couple of England’s other older players made a point of taking a moment for a slow walk around the ground before the team warm-up, just to soak in the moment. The game has come a long way even since they first played. No one who has been in the sport for any length of time seems quite able to believe it, even World Rugby’s higher-ups seem to be a bit bewildered by just how popular the women’s game has become all of a sudden.The question hanging over the team is exactly how they will cope with the occasion given they have never really had to deal with this much attention and expectation. Well, nothing in rugby serves to settle the nerves like a good maul, and the Red Roses rolled out a couple at the first good chance they had. Sadia Kabeya scored off the second, and their World Cup was off and running. Andy BullLine breakGame 2: Pool A
