Women’s Rugby World Cup: How to watch the draw, who Scotland could face, TV channel

The Scots are among the second seeds for the tournament which has been expanded in format from 12 to 16 teams who will be split into four groups of four.

The draw will take place live on BBC’s The One Show from 7pm, with one nation from each of the four seeding pots going into each pool.

The seedings are based on World Rugby rankings and the Band 1 teams are England, Canada, New Zealand and France. The Band 2 teams are Australia, Ireland, Scotland and Italy; the Band 3 sides are USA, Wales, Japan and South Africa; the Band 4 sides are Spain, Samoa, Fiji and Brazil.

The tournament will take place from August 22 to September 27 across six weekends in eight locations. The opening game will be played at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light, with the final at Twickenham.

How was qualification decided and who could Scotland face?

England qualified automatically as the host nation, and Canada, France and holders New Zealand also secured direct qualification after finishing in the top four at Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021, which was played in New Zealand in 2022 due to a Covid delay.

Six further teams qualified through regional competitions – Brazil, Fiji, Ireland, Japan, South Africa and the USA - while the remaining six places were determined through the WXV 2024 tournament.

The six highest placed non-qualified teams in the competition earned a spot at Women’s RWC 2025 – Australia, Scotland, Italy, Wales, Spain and Samoa.

As Band 2 seeds, Scotland will face one country from pots one, three and four in the pool stage. It means they will avoid Australia, Ireland and Italy.

The eight venues that will host matches

The opening game of the tournament will be played at Sunderland’s 49,000-capacity Stadium of Light on August 22.

Six of the eight host locations will hold pool matches over three weekends, with Brighton and Hove (Brighton and Hove Albion Stadium), Exeter (Sandy Park), Manchester (Salford Community Stadium), Northampton (Franklin’s Gardens) and York (York Community Stadium) joining Sunderland.

Exeter and Bristol (Ashton Gate Stadium) will host the quarter-finals on the weekend of September 13, with the latter also hosting both semi-finals on the weekend of September 19.

The final will be at Twickenham on September 27.

Scotland’s chances at RWC 2025

Scotland, led by head coach Bryan Easson, ended an 11-year wait for a Women’s Rugby World Cup appearance when they beat Colombia in the Final Qualification Tournament decider in Dubai to reach RWC 2021 in New Zealand.

They lost their opening two games narrowly, 18-15 to Wales and 14-12 to Australia, before being comprehensively beaten 57-0 by eventual winners New Zealand in the final group game.

Scotland’s form has improved considerably since, and they go into the 2025 tournament seeded to reach the quarter-finals. Easson’s side have won 12 of their last 16 matches.