England overturn half-time deficit to beat Australia 48-15 in WXV opener

England recovered from a 10-5 half-time deficit to defeat Australia 48-15 at CorpAcq Stadium in Salford on Saturday, opening their WXV Global Series campaign with a victory. BBC Sport reported that the world champions scored seven tries after the interval to take their record winning sequence to 39 matches.

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Australia had led through a Samantha Wood penalty and a Faliki Pohiva try, while Abi Burton supplied England's only first-half try. It was the first time since 2020 that England had gone into the break behind, leaving John Mitchell's team with an unfamiliar problem to solve.

The response featured tries from May Campbell, Meg Jones, Bryony Field, Mia Venner and Sadia Kabeya in a 20-minute spell. Lucy Packer and Claudia Moloney-MacDonald also crossed after the break. Asoiva Karpani scored Australia's second try, but the visitors could not match England's second-half scoring.

The result comes at the start of a redesigned international programme. According to World Rugby, the Global Series brings together the 12 highest-ranked women's teams in a touring format that combines home and away matches across regions. This year's international window runs from 12 September to 31 October, with 36 matches scheduled. The programme is part of a three-year build-up to the 2029 Women's Rugby World Cup in Australia.

World Rugby says more than 100 internationals are planned across those three years. Alongside the main series, six other nations compete in a centrally hosted Challenger event in Hong Kong, replacing the previous three-level WXV structure with two levels. England and Australia already have places at the 2029 World Cup: England through their finish in the 2025 tournament and Australia as hosts. Canada, New Zealand and France are also already qualified.

England's next fixture is against Canada at Sandy Park in Exeter on Saturday, 19 September, as listed by World Rugby. That gives the Red Roses another home assignment a week after the Australia match, with the opening result secured before the new series moves into its next weekend.