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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