England produced a dominant second-half performance to defeat Australia 48-15 in the opening game of the new WXV Global Series at Salford's Corp Acq Stadium. The world champions, playing their first game since winning a record eighth successive Women's Six Nations title, were made to work for victory after trailing at half-time for the first time since 2020. The Wallaroos led 10-5 at the break, with player of the match Abi Burton scoring England's only try in an error-strewn first half.

John Mitchell's side responded emphatically after the interval, scoring seven tries to extend their record winning run to 39 matches in front of a crowd of 9,251. During a dominant 20-minute spell, May Campbell, captain Meg Jones, Bryony Field, Mia Venner and Sadia Kabeya all crossed for tries. Lucy Packer and Claudia Moloney-Mac Donald also scored, with Australia's Asoiva Karpeni and Faliki Pohiva crossing in the first half.

The Red Roses face Canada at Exeter's Sandy Park next weekend, the teams' first meeting since England won last year's Rugby World Cup final, before facing New Zealand at Allianz Stadium on 26 September. This was the first game with the new women's size 4.5 ball, which is 3% smaller than the standard size five. England head coach John Mitchell described the fixture as a good pre-season game, stating it was the first opportunity to solve problems ahead of the 2029 World Cup in Australia.