England suffered a heartbreaking Women’s Rugby World Cup final defeat to hosts New Zealand despite an admirable battle in a gruelling, captivating contest in Auckland that went down to the wire.
The Red Roses saw Lydia Thompson sent off early for a head-on-head tackle on Portia Woodman after a furious start to an enthralling showpiece on Saturday played in front of a sold-out 43,579-strong crowd at Eden Park - a record attendance for women’s rugby - that involved five tries in a frenzied opening 24 minutes.