San Francisco Frontiers - Three talking points ahead of the Women's Rugby World Cup final

Below AFP Sport looks at three key aspects of what promises to be a thrilling encounter.

Can England hold their nerve?

England, the best-resourced team in women's rugby union, go into the final on a record-breaking 32-match unbeaten run, with defeat by New Zealand in the 2022 final their lone loss in 63 games.

And yet the tournament hosts and favourites have just one win from six consecutive Women's World Cup finals, against Canada in 2014, when the Maple Leafs made their only previous appearance in the showpiece fixture.

Repeated failure to add to their two World Cup titles has led to awkward questions about England's ability to cope on the rare occasions when they are subjected to sustained pressure.

And should the Red Roses make as many handling errors as they did in a semi-final win over France, where they only led 7-5 at half-time, they could well be punished by a Canada side who were superb in seeing off double-defending champions New Zealand 34-19 in their last-four clash.

Saturday's match will be staged in front of a capacity crowd of over 82,000 at Twickenham, surpassing the previous women's 15-a-side record of 58,498 for the Red Roses' Six Nations encounter against France at English rugby union's headquarters in 2023.

But England hooker Amy Cokayne, who scored a hat-trick of tries in the World Cup final three years ago only to finish on the losing side, insisted: "The bigger crowds we have had, that is when the big players stand up and we are a team full of big players."

Can De Goede still be so very good?

It is perhaps unsurprising Sophie de Goede is an outstanding rugby player given both her parents are former Canada captains.

But that only explains so much about the extraordinary prowess of the goal-kicking lock, with De Goede also scoring three tries in a tournament haul of 58 points prior to the final.

In addition, she has also won five turnovers, completed 65 of 70 tackles and leads the way for most offloads at this World Cup with 11.

All this has been achieved after De Goede, nominated this week for World Rugby's player of the year award, recovered from an anterior cruciate ligament injury

"It's been a long road back, it has not been linear," she said. "I think the team has been so wonderful in supporting me on and off the field."

De Goede added: "Any tries you see are off the back of multiple team members' positive impacts.

"One thing the team does really well is if the individual makes a decision, we all just play off the back of it."

'Stop De Goede and you stop Canada' may be too simplistic a slogan, but if England can limit her influence they could be well on their way to victory.

Scrum-half battle

Quick ball has been at the heart of Canada's run to the World Cup final, with scrum-half Justine Pelletier leading the way.

But England counterpart Natasha Hunt is no slouch either when looking to unleash a back-line featuring Ellie Kildunne, the reigning world player of the year.

Both Pelletier and Hunt have provided more try assists at this World Cup than any other player, with five apiece, and they are both blessed with an eye for a gap and an ability to put team-mates into space with a pass that can split the tightest of defences.

Much will depend on the respective packs, but their individual contest promises to be a fascinating game within a game.

P.Thomas--SFF