 Replacements: Davies, Muir, Brown, O'Donnell, Cleall, Kabeya, MacDonald, Heard New Zealand: 15 Renee Holmes, 14 Ruby Tui, 13 Stacey Fluhler, 12 Theresa Fitzpatrick, 11 Portia Woodman, 10 Ruahei Demant (capt), 9 Kendra Cocksedge; 1 Pip Love, 2 Georgia Ponsonby, 3 Amy Rule, 4 Maiakawanakaulai Roos, 5 Chelsea Bremner, 6 Alana Bremner, 7 Sarah Hirini, 8 Charmaine McMenamin Replacements: Connor, Murray, Taumata, Ngan-Woo, Simon, Bayler, Tubic, Leti-I'iga Three changes for England, all enforced by injury, as Kildunne, Aitchison, and Thompson come in for Keates, Rowland, and Botterman, and only one change for New Zealand, with McMenamin stepping in for Mikaele-Tu'u. 5:18AM Hello and welcome to the final of the Women's Rugby World Cup, with England set to face title-holders and hosts New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland. The final will kick off at 6.30am GMT in front of a sellout crowd in this eagerly-anticipated re-run of the 2017 final, won by the home side, but expectations are a little different this time around. The Red Roses have had a barnstorming tournament, extending their winning streak to a record 30 games, and going into to today's match, edge the Black Ferns as favourite. But the five-time World Cup winners have never been beaten by England in this competition and their ferocious domination of the tournament, as well as the promise of a feisty home crowd, has set up a possibly era-defining challenge for Simon Middleton's side. England's head coach has indulged in some fighting talk ahead of the fixture, intimating that the greater challenge might be for New Zealand to live up to the expectations of their supporters at Eden Park, but his general message has been more circumspect. 'W){kind=link}
Chosen by us to get you up to speed at a glance
Head coach Simon Middleton has been forced into an eleventh-hour reshuffle after scrum-half Leanne Infante suffered a foot injury.
He drafts in Lucy Packer, rather than promoting the benched Claudia MacDonald.
It’s certainly up there. To get yourself in the winning spirit (if you’re an England supporter, that is…), why not revisit Dow’s stupendous play from the semi-final.
As a reminder, Dow broke her leg this April during a Six Nations clash – to say her comeback has been magnificent is not enough.