Morgan excited to unleash Wallaroo 'weapons' against Red Roses

Wed, Sep 3, 2025, 2:30 AM
NW
by Nathan Williamson and Nick Wasiliev

The Wallaroos will come into their third pool match as likely outsiders against hosts England, who haven’t lost a match since the 2021 Rugby World Cup final.

However, it doesn’t mean the women in gold don’t have a plan to disrupt the Red Roses - and Layne Morgan is keeping her powder dry.

Watch the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup live and on-demand via Stan Sport.

Following Australia's 31-all draw with the USA, points differential becomes critical. 

With the USA currently 135 points behind, Jo Yapp’s side need just one competition point to lock down their quarter final position - and the best approach is to go out to try and win.

“We're not going to let any cats out of the bag here,” Morgan joked with reporters on Tuesday.

“We're going to keep our secrets to ourselves and how we're going to take it against England. But we've got so many weapons in our team.

“We just need to learn how to exploit them and exploit England, and use our weapons to our fullest. We've got awesome girls in this team that we can light up and show England what we're made of, and we're ready to bring it to them.

“There's definitely ways we're going to attack them and take our chances when we need to.

“[England] are a great team that we need to respect but I definitely think that everyone is beatable, so we're going to have a good day.”

The Wallaroos have turned plenty of heads so far this tournament, with Caitlyn Halse and Desiree Miller singled out as breakout performers.

Morgan credits coach Yapp for the side’s improvement, highlighting her experience in the England system as a valuable knowledge source.

“Jo Yapp's been a great addition to the Wallaroos and her coaching is a new perspective of rugby,” the 37-Test halfback explained.

“Us in the Southern Hemisphere, we play a different style to the Northern Hemisphere, so it was kind of mixing that flavour and introducing new ways to play the game as well and really testing us, especially in that collision zone. 

“I think [Yapp] has really tested us well and it's been a great insight into how the Northern Hemisphere play rugby, and how we can add that flair to our game and also amplify our game to be even better.”

While Yapp is set to depart the role following the conclusion of the World Cup, Morgan is excited by the future of the Wallaroos.

Over 30,000 fans are expected to watch the Wallaroos play England on the weekend, the second largest crowd (after their 2021 World Cup opener against the Black Ferns) the women in gold have ever played in front of.

For Morgan, with the profile of the team rising both at home and overseas off the back of the 2025 season, a good performance against the current world number one side would only add to that momentum.

“It's exciting,” Morgan reflected when asked about their World Cup experience.

“I mean, who doesn't want to play in front of a packed out stadium and to see the support that's coming in from [a] Rugby World Cup?

“England have been putting on a show no matter what stadium you're playing at and what team you're playing. We played Samoa and USA so far and have had great turnouts. It's such an awesome World Cup to be a part of and getting amongst all the fans afterwards and before is just amazing.

“Coming off the bus last week, we had so many people lining up, cheering for us and it actually got me a bit emotional because it's the first time we've really had fans at the gate that wasn't just family.

“[In Australia], there's so many young girls going out and playing and I definitely think it's very lucky that the Wallaroos have been started to be seen in the public eye as well. 

“It's been amazing to see us being seen and the young girls have the opportunity to play - all sport in female sports is growing in Australia, a lot of girls, they're playing rugby league on a Saturday, union on a Sunday and soccer at some point between that.

“Now they know that there's something to look forward to as well, which is something that I didn't have when I was a kid."

“It was so exciting to see how much women's rugby is growing.”

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