A difficult pool will be the perfect platform for the Red Roses according to skipper Marlie Packer after England were drawn alongside Australia, USA and Samoa at the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup.

Finalists two years ago, England will look to go one better on home soil, coming into the tournament as the top seeds thanks to sitting top of the world rankings.

They recently retained their WXV title, and are unbeaten since the last World Cup, with Packer having taken over the captaincy since that defeat in Eden Park to New Zealand.

And as England look to lift the World Cup for the first time since 2014, Packer believes the challenging pool will set them up nicely for the cut-throat knockout stages.

She said: “It (the pool draw) is going to pose us questions, but I think that is really good for us.

“We don’t want to get into the knockout stages without being posed questions and made sure that we are in the best possible spot come those knockout stages.

“Every team that plays us wants to beat us, because we do have that dominance.

“That is what has been so great about these WXVs, is that we have had the opportunity to play the best teams in the world regularly for the last couple of years.

“We got posed questions by all the teams we played in lots of different areas, and it is all positive for us, because winning is a habit and we are very good at it as the Red Roses.”

England will kick off the tournament in Sunderland, with the schedule to be revealed next week.

They have been placed in Pool A, while in Pool B, Scotland and Wales are set to meet for the second World Cup in a row.

Wales won 18-15 in New Zealand thanks to a late Keira Bevan penalty, and the teams will meet again in a pool that also features world number two side Canada and Fiji.

Reflecting on the draw, Malcolm said: “None of those pools are easy but looking at our pool we’re super excited.

“What’s evident straight away is that the four teams play different styles of rugby. Canada are definitely a force to be reckoned with, they’re probably going to be our biggest challenge but equally we know Fiji play a very quick brand of rugby so we have to be ready for that and we know the challenge that a very physical Wales team brings so we’re excited for it.”

In Pool C, Ireland will take on New Zealand once again, having just beaten them in a thrilling encounter in WXV.

The teams have only met once before at a World Cup, when Ireland shocked the Black Ferns, who missed the semi-finals for the only time in their history as a result.

Alongside the two teams will be Japan and Spain, with co-captain Sam Monaghan excited about the prospect.

She said: “It’s really exciting. The group is quite familiar from the last couple of years of what we’ve played.

“We went on tour in Japan a couple of years ago. We played Spain last year in WXV, and New Zealand, obviously we’ve just beaten them, so we can take confidence from that. A good group, an exciting group, different styles of play. New Zealand, we’re buzzing to play them. I know they’ll definitely be up for a rematch as well.”

The final pool, Pool D, sees European heavyweights France drawn alongside Six Nations rivals Italy, South Africa and newcomers Brazil.