Premiership Women’s Rugby: Who are England’s World Cup winners playing for?

The Premiership Women’s Rugby season kicks off on Friday following England’s World Cup triumph at Twickenham in September.

The World Cup final against Canada was played in front of 81,885 fans – a record for a women’s rugby match and the second-highest attendance for a men’s or women’s World Cup final.

It was also the most-watched women’s rugby match ever on UK television, with a record-breaking peak audience of 5.8 million viewers.

This season’s Premiership campaign will look to build on the growth of women’s rugby as the stars of England’s all-conquering squad return to action.

England full-back Ellie Kildunne will be in action for Harlequins on Friday evening against a Loughborough side featuring Sadia Kabeya, the player of the match in the World Cup final.

The BBC will show the match live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app, and will feature a live game every week of the season as part of a new coverage deal.

Prop forward Hannah Botterman and centre Meg Jones are among the big names in action across Saturday’s two games.

England captain Zoe Aldcroft will be looking to lead Gloucester-Hartpury to a fourth successive title at Twickenham Stoop next June.

The defending champions start their campaign on Sunday against a Saracens side containing Canada’s World Rugby women’s player of year Sophie de Goede.

Kildunne said, external of the return to action: “It’s one of those ones that you’re kind of toying your mind around. You want time off, but I also miss it a lot.”

There are 130 players from the World Cup in this season’s PWR, including Ireland back-row star Aoife Wafer, Scotland’s balletic wing Francesca McGhie, New Zealand prop Amy Rule and talented Spanish back Claudia Pena.

“The PWR is the best women’s domestic league in the world, and we want to welcome all these new rugby fans with open arms,” PWR executive chair Genevieve Shore said.