Preview: Women's Rugby World Cup

Friday will herald the opening of the 2010 Women's World Cup with the challengers now ready and hungry to make the final on September 5.

Holders New Zealand will once again go in as slight favourites over the tournament hosts, with this being the sixth event since it began in 1991.

The success of the inaugural tournament in Wales laid the foundations for the future and proved the viability of such a competition, from which the Women's World Cup has continued to grow to the present day. All of the Pool games will take place at Surrey Sports Park in Guildford.

Pools:

A: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Wales
B: England, Ireland, Kazakhstan, USA
C: Canada, France, Scotland, Sweden

Fixtures -
Pool A
20 Aug, 14:00 - Wales v Australia
20 Aug, 16:15 - New Zealand v South Africa
24 Aug, 12:00 - Wales v South Africa
24 Aug, 16:15 - New Zealand v Australia
28 Aug, 14:00 -New Zealand v Wales
28 Aug, 16:15 - Australia v South Africa

Pool B
20 Aug, 14:15 -USA v Kazakhstan
20 Aug, 18:30 - England v Ireland
24 Aug, 16:30 - USA v Ireland
24 Aug, 18:30 - England v Kazakhstan
28 Aug, 16:30 - Ireland v Kazakhstan
28 Aug, 18:30 - England v USA

Pool C
20 Aug, 12:00 - Canada v Scotland
20 Aug, 16:30 - France v Sweden
24 Aug, 14:00 - France v Scotland
24 Aug, 14:15 - Canada v Sweden
28 Aug, 12:00 - Scotland v Sweden
28 Aug, 14:15 - France v Canada

England will go in confident of depriving New Zealand of their fourth-straight title and they arrived led by Head Coach Gary Street and captain Catherine Spencer. The squad entered fresh from camp in Wellington College where they have spent the past week training.

Like the twelve other World Cup contenders, England will be based at the Sports Park for the duration of the tournament and will also play all of their Pool encounters at the multi-million pound facility. The semi-finals and the final will be held at the Twickenham Stoop.

The Rugby Football Union is hosting the WRWC for the first time with over 5,000 fans turning up to support both the England women and men's teams at an open training event at Twickenham last week. And the excitement of that day is still resonating with Spencer.

"It's fantastic to finally be here at the venue and know that we are now just days away from the start of this World Cup," she said, with England's games being shown on Sky Sports.

"Surrey is a fantastic venue for this tournament, and already we have seen several of the teams around the facility looking like they are really enjoying themselves. Our first game is against Ireland on Friday and we know that is going to be a seriously tough opener, but now we just can't wait to take to the field."

However, it was not England who were the first to arrive at the Surrey camp as the holders checked into the tournament venue on Saturday as the setting brought back a few memories of the first World Cup for experienced Black Ferns fly-half Anna Richards.

"The grounds are immaculate, the sports facilities are amazing and it's actually sunny so you can't ask for much more really," explained Richards, who was called up to the squad for what will be her fifth World Cup after injury ruled out Amiria Rule earlier this month.

"It reminds me of 1991 because we were in a University campus in Cardiff. It's quite cool, you get to see a few of the other teams and catch up with a lot of the players. It will be quite nice to be here and see some teams play, catch up with people and actually soak up the atmosphere."

The Black Ferns' first opponents will be South Africa and they were one of ten teams who arrived on Monday with captain Mandisa Williams leading her team-mates in a recovery session and their first light training run. After only making their World Cup debut in 2006, South Africa could be dark horses and bring with them an unbeaten four-match record into the tournament after series victories over Kazakhstan and Scotland.

There will also be a familiar name on show in the Wallaroo camp as the older sister of Matt Giteau, Kristy, is poised to run out in gold. The wing has previously represented her country in rugby league, while she also toured with the Australian schoolgirls' basketball team.

Clearly the excitement is not only with the players though, as IRB Tournament Director Philippe Bourdarias struggled to hide his excitement ahead of the kick-off.

"The IRB has been working towards this tournament for the past two years and we are delighted that it has now finally arrived. We are now looking forward to Friday and the beginning of what promises to be a hugely exciting and entertaining Women's World Cup."

With thanks to the IRB