England's early lead challenged come halftime, but they responded in the second half with ten tries, dominant in possession.

England ultimately won by seven points to advance to the final following what The Telegraph described as "one of the greatest contests of all time, men's or women's.

[25] New Zealand had secured the top position in Pool A before playing its final match, which was against Scotland, considered a much weaker team.

[b] The match played out much like their pool stage meeting, with New Zealand "demolishing" Wales, though the team was fierce in defence to prevent a larger points gap.

Their captain, Ruahei Demant, managed to run the ball into the England half, threatening the defence, until New Zealand conceded a penalty.

Woodman stayed down off the pitch as the referee looked to restart play, with England winning the ball off New Zealand and kicking it downfield; medics and video referee intervened in the 17th minute, taking Woodman off due to a head injury and showing that the first point of contact in Thompson's tackle was her head.

[13] A minute later, New Zealand scored their first try of the match, winning a maul themselves to send Georgia Ponsonby over the line, converted by Renee Holmes.

Handling errors then saw New Zealand lose the ball to England, who repeated the play of their second try to score a third, this time by Marlie Packer, though Scarratt missed the conversion.

[13] Restart saw messy play, with both teams losing possession, before England pushed forward by the try line but lost the ball again due to Zoe Aldcroft dropping the ball for a knock on as she went down; play continued with New Zealand opting for a scrum, though medics intervened, assessing the still-down Aldcroft on the pitch before taking her off with a head injury in the 27th minute.

England took the penalty with another maul and drove it over the line in the 32nd minute, Cokayne supplying her second try and Scarratt her third conversion.

[13] England continued with strong play for the remainder of the first half, seeing a quick ball return after handling errors by New Zealand and then a penalty from scrum discipline; though England won a line-out by the try line, New Zealand won the ball and began to pass it down their line towards the left.

England struggled to regain possession or break forward when they had it and turned to defensive play within their own half as New Zealand continued to push.

A New Zealand knock-on gave them some reprise, though also coming with interchanges to freshen the Black Ferns; England failed to kick the ball as they intended and lost possession.

A series of mistakes saw possession change hands several times, and several scrums awarded, for about ten minutes around the hour mark.

MacDonald tried to make the most of equal numbers by pushing down the centre, but slow play saw a power struggle between the teams in the middle of the pitch, with England eventually conceding a line out to New Zealand; the Black Ferns played to their left side to again send Leti-I'iga over for a try, retaking the lead but still failing to convert.

With seconds left on the clock, England chose to push for a try rather than kick for goal, which would have tied the scores and taken the match to extra time.

[13] Player of the Match: Ruahei Demant (New Zealand)[31] Assistant referees:[32] Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa) Aurélie Groizeleau (France) Television match official:[32] Ben Whitehouse (Wales) Notes: The early red card to England's Thompson left the team down a player for most of the match before eventually losing; the rest of the team said afterwards that they did not blame her for the loss, with captain Hunter saying it was up to the players on the pitch to deliver and, though the England side "left no stone unturned, [they] left everything on the pitch", that New Zealand found a way and they did not.

[33] Coach Simon Middleton said in his interview after the match that the red card "didn't help", elaborating that it made a tough contest tougher but that he was proud of the England performance and recognised New Zealand's skill.

[33] Men's coach Eddie Jones was also asked about it, and compared red cards in recent years to electric car chargers, saying that they are suddenly everywhere and it is no longer impossible to win a match after receiving one early on.