'We saw how Lionesses blew things up'

England flanker Sadia Kabeya says next year's home World Cup is the Red Roses' chance to transform women's rugby union - and thanks football's Lionesses for instilling such belief.

European Championship glory on home soil in 2022 for the Lionesses - England's women's football team - has sparked huge growth in the sport, with participation levels spiking after the win and crowd records repeatedly broken.

At the age of 22, Kabeya has quickly established herself as one of the Red Roses' most influential players, earning the England Women's Player of the Year Award in 2023, just 12 months after being crowned Rugby Players' Association (RPA) Premier 15s Player of the Year.

"To have a home World Cup coming up now and what it will do for women's rugby will be amazing," Loughborough Lightning's Kabeya told BBC East Midlands Today.

"We saw what happened with the Women's Euros and how that blew up. I see these women on TV - Leah Williamson, Mary Earps - and they have been put in the spotlight because of the sport they play.

"So if we can have that for rugby and have people like Ellie Kildunne and Emily Scarratt being put on the platform it would be amazing."

The Red Roses have already generated huge interest in the recent past - in 2023 they sealed a Six Nations Grand Slam in front of a record women's crowd of 58,498 at Twickenham.

At the same venue last December, Harlequins broke the world record for a women’s club match when 16,237 watched on as they were beaten by Gloucester-Hartpury.

Data from the Women's Sport Trust - a charity promoting the participation of women and girls in sport - showed that this year's Women's Six Nations attracted 13 million viewing hours, up from 10m in 2023, to make it the most-viewed edition so far.

Such growth in women's sport over recent years has prompted finance experts Deloitte to predict the industry at the elite level will generate more than £1bn for the first time in 2024.

The Women's Rugby World Cup drew record attendance figures when last held in New Zealand in 2022, with more than 140,000 spectators attending games across the tournament.

England, two-time World Cup winners who are yet to claim the prize on home soil, will next year host the event for the first time since 2010.

It is a tournament that World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont hopes will "engage and inspire new audiences in ways that rugby events have not done before".

Kabeya was part of the England side that lost the 2021 World Cup final to New Zealand and sees the 2025 tournament as a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity.

"Being put in the spotlight, having a great tournament and aiming to bring that cup home, I'd love to do that," she said.

"It's so exciting to have a home World Cup, you can't aim for anything better."