Rugby World Cup: England ready to tackle ‘huge’ final against rivals New Zealand in Auckland | Rugby Union News

England have lost all four previous World Cup finals against tournament hosts New Zealand but go into game on a 30-match winning streak; follow the action in our live blog on Saturday morning, with the final kicking off at 6.30am (GMT)

England head coach Simon Middleton insists his Red Roses side can be proud of their Rugby World Cup performance, regardless of what happens in Saturday’s “huge” final against hosts New Zealand.

The Red Roses are looking to extend their world-record winning streak of 30 Tests – stretching back to 2019 – and be crowned world champions for a third time with victory in front of a record crowd at Eden Park.

England have been beaten by the Black Ferns in all four previous meetings in World Cup finals, most recently in a high-scoring contest in 2017, although Middleton believes he has seen his side improve during this year’s tournament.

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RFU women’s rugby and sevens performance manager Charlie Hayter is confident about England’s chances in Saturday’s World Cup final against New Zealand.

“Well, it’s huge, isn’t it?” Middleton said ahead of the final. “It’s everything. But we said when we came here, we wanted to leave this country a better team than we arrived, better squad than we arrived. And we’ll do that, whatever happens tomorrow.

“That’s a massive source of encouragement for us and we’re really proud of that. Yeah, obviously we want to win tomorrow and you know, that would be the icing on the cake.

“We’ll go out, we’ll give it our best shot and we’ll see where it takes us.”

England head into the final as favourites to win the World Cup for the first time since 2014, despite their past record against New Zealand in finals, with Emily Scarratt keen to avenge past disappointments against the Black Ferns.

“We definitely feel prepared,” Scarratt said. “We’ll look back and not be able to have any regrets because we’ve done everything that we possibly could have and the result will be what it is.

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England’s Emily Scarratt and Ellie Kildunne look forward to a ‘historic battle’ on Saturday as they prepare to take on New Zealand in the Rugby Women’s World Cup final.

“I think for us it was always just about getting in the final and then seeing who it was that we were facing. Obviously, the Black Ferns, there’s a long rivalry there. Obviously, they’ve been incredibly successful at World Cups gone past.

“I’ve been in two World Cup finals where we’ve lost to them. So I’d be lying if I said I obviously didn’t want to kind of get the side back up on the ratio a little bit in terms of that.”

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Former England international Will Greenwood says he is ‘fully confident’ England will beat New Zealand in the Women’s Rugby World Cup final.

England topped Pool C after thrashing Fiji and South Africa either side of a hard-fought win against France, who were beaten by New Zealand in the semi-finals, before wins against Australia and Canada secured the Red Roses a sixth consecutive appearance in a World Cup final.

“It’s not just been the past seven weeks being out here or the past four months in camp, it has been five years that we’ve been preparing, getting ready,” winger Ellie Kildunne said. “It’s finally time. So if anything, I’m just ready and I’m excited.”

Follow the World Cup final in our dedicated live blog on SkySports.com and the Sky Sports App on Saturday morning, with a 6.30am (GMT) kick-off at Eden Park.