England to host New Zealand and France in September

England will be hosting New Zealand and France in September to step up their preparations for the 2025 home Women's Rugby World Cup.

The fixtures will be played before the WXV1 tournament scheduled to kick-off on 27th September in Canada.

The date and venues for the two games will be unveiled in due course of time.

Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney said the Women's game has been witnessing a rapid growth while speaking about Impact '25, a "transformational" programme to "supercharge" the sport's growth which aims to have 100,000 female players in England by 2027.

"The opportunity to grow the women's and girls' game was a primary driver behind our bid to host Women's Rugby World Cup 2025," Sweeney said.

"If you look at women's sport, what's happening with the Lionesses in football and you see it across cricket as well, it is here to stay and we need to make sure it grows as quickly as possible."

The 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup will kick-off on 22nd August with London, Brighton, Bristol, Exeter, Manchester, Northampton, Sunderland and York being the venues.