The Womens’ Rugby World Cup kicked off on 22nd August and since then the 6-week record-breaking tournament has visited eight cities and England's Red Roses have beaten USA, Samoa, Australia, Scotland, France and Canada in the Final to become World Champions!
Here at Eccles, we’ve also made the most of the World Cup opportunities in our community, by welcoming the Trophy, international teams and coaches to our Gorton Street home. Here’s a recap of the memorable events and, looking ahead to the legacy of the tournament, an update on our plans to host Girls Rugby Festivals for local schools in October.
Friday 30th May. Trophy.
As part of its promotional tour of England, Eccles was invited to host a visit of the Womens' Rugby World Cup Trophy, giving our young members and local community a golden opportunity to get involved in some half-term rugby activities and a photo with the gleaming 24-carat trophy.
Wednesday 6th August. Womens T1.
In collaboration with Salford Comunity Leisure we launched a T1 intiative to encourage Women to give non-contact Rugby a try, hosted on the Eccles pitches throughout the summer on Wednesday evenings with a social drink afterwards. This proved to be popular as an enjoyable fitness activity with some of our mums who were bringing children to the club for training. Many of the participants had never played before. Numbers have increased gradually each week.
Saturday 16 August. Eccles Fest.
To celebrate the Womens' World Cup coming to Salford, the club switched the focus of its annual pre-season event to host a festival of women & girls rugby between local rivals - Eccles U16 Girls vs Trafford MV U16 Girls followed by Eccles Ladies v Leigh Ladies, wih the Eccles women lifting the Silverwear.
Saturday 23 August. World Cup Game Day.
Visiting teams from Australia, Samoa, Scotland and Wales were officially welcomed in a ceremony at Manchester Town Hall on SUnday 17 August, before open training sessions and the first pair of games at the Salford Community Stadium on Saturday 23 August.
To start the game day, we hosted a fantastic morning of rugby, welcoming the Strathendick RFC U14 and U16 girls on Tour from Scotland to face combined a squad of girls from Eccles and Trafford MV, before heading off to the Stadium to watch the International action.
Eccles RFC received an allocation of RWC tickets via Salford City Council which were distributed to deserving volunteers, girls and families in our community who enjoyed a memorable experience amongst the 10,000 fans in the stadium.
Wednesday 27 August. Scotland.
We welcomed the players and coaching staff of Scotland to the club for a ’State of Mind’ Mental Health event, which was attended by local health care professionals as well as invited members of our rugby community.
Thursday 28 August. Wales.
We welcomed the players and coaching staff of Wales for some fun activities in a community engagement event with girls from our U12, U14, U16 ad U18 teams. BBC Wales covered the event with a live broadcast.
Friday 29 August. Rugby Europe.
We hosted the launch of Rugby Europe Womens Academy where girls from the Eccles and Lancashire County squads were invited to benefit from a carousel of top European coaches. In addition to the skills sessions delivered on our pitches, the club hosted a lunch, presentations and an evening dinner for the coaching delegates.
Saturday 27 September. Womens Rugby World Cup Final.
England v Canada, 4pm KO, on the screen.
England Red Roses won the World Cup in 1994 and 2014 and have been runners-up on six other occassions. Their seventh consecutive World Cup final, on home turf, in front of 82,000 at Twickenham will mark spectacular new territory for women's rugby and we'll be screening it in the club.
The latest news on the Red Roses and WRWC25 check here https://www.englandrugby.com/wrwc25/news https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2025/en
UPDATE: England overcame Canada 33-13 at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham to claim the Women's Rugby World Cup for the first time since 2014, with tries from Ellie Kildunne, Amy Cokayne, Alex Matthews (2) and Abbie Ward as well as eight points from the boot of Zoe Harrison sealing glory for the host nation.
RugbyFest
As part of a nationwide community celebration following the Women’s Rugby World Cup, Eccles RFC will be hosting two Girls Rugby Festivals for local Salford and Manchester Schools. These afternoon events, with music, are supported by Sale Sharks and designed as a fun, inclusive, taster session for those who are new to the game. Our aim is to inspire the next generation from our local community and hopefully attract and recruit players for our girls teams. We're expecting between 100-200 girls on our pitches and 10- 16 schools on site, for each day.
To register and participate school teachers should email Schools Rugby Manager james.wright@unitedlearning.org.uk
-
Friday 3rd October. Girls Rugby Festival. (High School Years 7 & 8) 3.30pm - 5pm.
-
Sunday 5th October. U12s Girls Rugby Taster Session. 12.30pm.
-
Monday 6th October. Girls Rugby Festival. (Primary School Years 5 & 6) 1pm - 3pm.
We're also hosting a Sunday Taster Session for U12 Girls, so potential new players in our community can experience rugby coaching and activities at the club. The Session starts 12.30pm but girls and parents are welcome to arrive earlier to watch our U14 Girls cluster fixture kicking off at 11.00am. Come down and give rugby a try!
