Wales captain Hannah Jones, a double championship winner with Gloucester/Hartpury, will represent her nation at what is a unique evening and represents the rise and growth of Women’s rugby across the world.
Centre Jones will be joined by the captains of the four home nations in a watershed moment ahead of the predicted biggest and best World Cup staged in England in August and September next year.
Wales after will be in Band 3 for the draw, with USA, South Africa and Japan, after the 19-10 victory over Japan in Cape Town in WXV2 last weekend.
England as back-to-back WXV 1 champions with a 21-12 win over Canada at BC Place in Vancouver on Saturday, England will go into the draw as the highest-rated team of all-time – men’s or women’s.
John Mitchell’s side, who have now won 20 matches on the bounce, have a rating of 97.56 points, the highest of any team since the World Rugby Rankings were first introduced in October 2003.
WXV 1 hosts Canada are now 8.25 points in arrears in second, New Zealand remain third with France, who the Black Ferns beat 39-14 in the final round of WXV 1, back in fourth.
Newly-crowned WXV 2 champions Australia head up band two as the fifth seeds, with Ireland, Scotland and Italy joining them. The Wallaroos swapped places with Scotland after they beat last year’s winners 31-22 in Saturday’s title decider in Cape Town.
Italy moved into band two thanks to a 23-19 win over South Africa, displacing the USA, who finished bottom of WXV 1 after suffering three straight defeats.
As the team ranked in ninth, the Women’s Eagles are in band three along with Wales, Japan and South Africa.
WXV 3 2024 winners Spain head up band four along with runners-up Samoa, Fiji and the lowest-ranked team in the draw, Brazil.
The top four teams in the rankings will be placed into band 1 and prepopulated into the first position in each pool. The remaining 12 teams will be drawn into bands 2,3 and 4 based on their rankings and drawn one by one.
Women’s RWC 2025 Draw Bands (ranking in brackets)
Band 1: England (1), Canada (2), New Zealand (3), France (4)
Band 2: Australia (5), Ireland (6), Scotland (7), Italy (8)
Band 3: USA (9), Wales (10), Japan (11), South Africa (12)
Band 4: Spain (13), Samoa (15), Fiji (17), Brazil (42)
