Daniel Wales speaks to fans at the Stadium of Light prior to England’s Women Rugby World Cup opening match against the USA, which the Red Roses went on to win 69-7.
00:00The Stadium of Light was bathed in late summer sunshine on Friday evening to mark the start of the Women's Rugby World Cup in England.
00:11Sunderland had been chosen as the host city for the opening match between England and the United States of America.
00:18And those in attendance were excited not only to be at the game, but also because it was being played in the North East.
00:25Lorraine, Annalisa, and Debs, Durham, Sunderland, Leeds.
00:31Far away at all.
00:32Firstly, just how excited are you to be here tonight?
00:35Excellently exciting.
00:36Are you all big rugby fans?
00:37Yes, yes.
00:38Absolutely.
00:39And obviously rugby union at least can be often seen as a southern-centric sport, so how important is it that it's here at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland?
00:46Really important.
00:46It's fantastic.
00:47It's great for the town.
00:48Yes.
00:48And what do you think the score's going to be?
00:51Whitewash.
00:53England.
00:53Yeah.
00:54Forty-five.
00:55Three.
00:58You think they can go all the way playing the Tournament?
01:00Absolutely.
01:01Absolutely.
01:02I'm Katie.
01:03I'm from Newcastle.
01:05I'm from Blythe, actually.
01:06Not far away at all.
01:07Firstly, how excited are you to be here tonight?
01:09I'm super excited.
01:11The fact that Sunderland are hosting the opening game is amazing for the women's game.
01:14I used to play.
01:16I played for England a long time ago, so it's really nice.
01:18The fact I never thought I'd see this in my lifetime.
01:20People nearly selling out an opening game and selling out the final.
01:22I'm really excited to be here.
01:23Well, that's the thing with rugby, isn't it?
01:24Especially rugby union.
01:25It's quite a southern-centric sport, or it can be.
01:27So how important is it that the North East has been given this game?
01:30Massively important.
01:31We haven't got a premiership women's team at the moment, so I'm really hoping that the Red Bulls take over the Falcons.
01:35We'll sort of trigger that.
01:36And this event will do nothing to distract from that.
01:39Hopefully, it'll just show them the support and the opportunity there for the people in the region.
01:42We've had some amazing talent come from this region to go and play for England.
01:45At the moment, they have to go away, which isn't fair on them.
01:47And we want to keep them within the region and show the strength that we create.
01:51And at the universities as well, they offer rugby from beginners all the way through to elite level.
01:56And we just want to make sure there's a full pathway for everybody here.
01:58But this is just the start.
02:00In fact, the Sunderland have it over wherever it was supposed to go, which the rumour was originally somewhere else.
02:05I'm really pleased.
02:05I think they've showcased their city really well and the fans.
02:08And the city, people of Sunderland have been really, really welcoming.
02:11And I think people might have thought they're football mad.
02:13What do they think about rugby?
02:14But I think they've proven today that they're just really friendly and wanting to showcase the amazing surroundings.
02:19Yeah.
02:20And now we're looking at the game itself.
02:21Do you have a score prediction?
02:23I do.
02:23I want it to be a really competitive game because I want every game to have a bit of jeopardy, a bit of threat.
02:27But I have to say, I think we're looking at a 40-point gap, to be honest.
02:33Will England go on and win?
02:34Will England go on and win the whole thing?
02:35If they beat France in that potential semi-final, then I think they could win it.
02:39But I actually think France is probably their biggest threat this year.
02:42I'm Reg and I'm from South Shields.
02:44I'm Ian and I'm from South Shields.
02:46And just firstly, how excited are you to be here tonight?
02:48Oh, can't contain myself.
02:52Yeah, very excited.
02:53I think it'll be a very good game.
02:55And clearly, you're both big rugby fans.
02:56Tell me how you both got into rugby.
02:58We've all played for, both of us played for Westall Rugby Club in South Shields.
03:03From 15 to 14.
03:07Yes.
03:10And obviously, it being here at the Stadium of Light tonight, it could have gone to somewhere in the south the first game, but it didn't.
03:16It's here in the north-east.
03:17How important is that?
03:18It's about time.
03:19I think it's important that they spread the matches out, both in the men's game and the women's game, because we very rarely get international matches up here.
03:28The last one I don't remember was Gateshead Stadium, All Blacks versus the north of England.
03:32Yeah.
03:32And that was back in the 90s, possibly.
03:34So it's about time they did move the games around the country.
03:38Certainly, the autumn friendlies, so-called, always a-twickening.
03:42That seems to be smacked of money, just money.
03:46If they want to expand the game like this, they should bring it up the north-east.
03:50And there's good grounds, Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Sunderland, all of them are available.
03:57They should do it.
03:58Because, of course, rugby union can be seen as quite a southern-centric sport, can't it?
04:01And therefore, bringing it into this region really expands it as a whole.
04:06Yeah.
04:07So, yeah, they should.
04:09They should bring it round here.
04:10And finally, what's the score going to be tonight?
04:13And can England not only win tonight, but can they go all the way?
04:16Yes, they should.
04:17Yeah, the only teams that would be England would be Canada and New Zealand.
04:22And after all of the build-up at the Stadium of Light,
04:25England did indeed deliver a hammer blow to the United States of America.
04:30The Red Roses won by 67.27 to get their Women's Rugby World Cup campaign
04:36off to the best possible start in the north-east of England.
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