The Red Roses will visit clubs up and down the country this weekend as part of RugbyFest, a nationwide initiative to encourage girls to take up rugby
England’s Rugby World Cup-winning Red Roses will look to inspire the next generation of players as they visit clubs up and down the country this weekend.
John Mitchell’s squad will meet young players and share their own stories of making it to the top of the women’s game as part of RugbyFest, a nationwide initiative to celebrate grassroots rugby. It will see hundreds of clubs across the country throw open their doors to encourage girls to give rugby a try.
As part of the initiative, these clubs will host taster sessions, family fun days and mini festivals between October 3-6, with the newly-crowned world champions set to play a major role off the back of their victory and the overall record-breaking success of the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup.
The weekend is designed to encourage not just new players to get involved in the sport, but also supporters and volunteers.
Hundreds of events have already been registered, with the initiative shaping up to be one of the biggest grassroots activations in the sport’s history.
Those wanting to take part this weekend can visit FindRugby.com to discover RugbyFest events near them, as well as other local opportunities to get involved with the sport.
“2025 has been a huge year for women’s rugby in England, with record-breaking attendances and a tremendous uplift in women and girls’ participation, and we want to continue to build on the momentum of the Red Roses winning the Women’s Rugby World Cup,” said Steve Grainger, Executive Director of Rugby Development at England Rugby.
“RugbyFest is a fantastic opportunity for communities to come together to celebrate rugby all over the country, and for our Red Roses to give back to the fans and communities who have got behind them and supported them over the years.
“This celebration weekend also taps into our Rugby World Cup ‘For The Girls’ campaign and speaks to the Red Roses ability to inspire a new generation of players into rugby, something that the team are all so passionate about doing.”
RugbyFest is part of the RFU’s World Cup legacy programme, Impact ’25’ and supported by the National Lottery.
The programme sees over £14.55m of Government funding committed to the sport in England and the home unions up to the end of March 2026, creating more opportunities for women and girls to get involved in rugby.
Impact ’25 is being delivered by the RFU in partnership with UK Government, Sport England and UK Sport. In addition to their support of RugbyFest, The National Lottery is providing £11m of funding to support the RFU to grow women and girls rugby through to 2027.
Andria Vidler, Chief Executive of Allwyn, operator of The National Lottery, added: “Through playing The National Lottery the public have been backing women’s rugby and the Red Roses for over 20 years – made possible by the £6b they have raised for grassroots sport.
“Therefore, we are delighted to also be able to support RugbyFest and create another opportunity for people across the country to discover a love for rugby.”