Alex Matthews scored two tries as tournament hosts and favourites England ended their long wait to win a third Women's Rugby World Cup title with a 33-13 victory over Canada at Twickenham on Saturday.

Victory in front of a record and raucous crowd of 81,885 gave England their first world title since defeating Canada 21-9 in the 2014 final in Paris and third in total following their 1994 triumph.

This success also extended England's record run to 33 consecutive wins, with the Red Roses having won 63 of their past 64 matches -- the lone blemish a defeat by New Zealand in the Covid-delayed 2022 final.

"It's absolutely unbelievable, to do it here at home," said England captain Zoe Aldcroft after a much-needed win that followed five defeats by New Zealand in the previous six World Cup finals.

"I am just so proud of every single one of those girls."

This was England's best performance of the tournament, with coach John Mitchell, brought in after the team's 2022 heartache specifically to win the World Cup, saying: "I thought we were superb defensively in the tournament; our attack didn't need to be at its best but it was effective enough to get the job done."

Mitchell added England had "massive respect" for Canada. "They are a good side, but they hadn't come up against us and we were waiting," he said.

Saturday's success gave the 61-year-old Mitchell, a former head coach of his native New Zealand's men's All Blacks and the defence chief of the England side beaten in the 2019 men's World Cup final by South Africa, his first major global title.

"It's not really so much about me," he said. "This has been a very good team for a long time, but I think they deserve to be termed a great side today."

Canada coach Kevin Rouet admitted England deserved to win.

"I think they were just better than us. Against England, if you don't score when you have to score, you can't win the game," he said.

England enjoyed a 21-8 half-time lead after outscoring Canada, appearing in just their second final, three tries to one.

Canada's Asia Hogan-Rochester opened the scoring in just the fifth minute before England hit back through Ellie Kildunne, Amy Cokayne and Matthews.

Fly-half Zoe Harrison converted all three of those tries in front of a crowd that surpassed the previous highest attendance for a 15-a-side women's international of 58,498 at Twickenham for England's 2023 Six Nations match against France.

England and Canada, first and second in the world rankings respectively, were unchanged from their semi-final wins, with Canada hugely impressive in dethroning double defending champions New Zealand.

Canada, who launched a crowdfunding campaign to help bolster their dreams of World Cup glory, struck first against the Red Roses -- the best-resourced team in the women's game.

Hogan-Rochester's well-judged grubber kick led to a line-out the Maple Leafs disrupted before the left wing sprinted in down the touchline.

- Kildunne leads England charge -

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England full-back Ellie Kildunne scores a try during the Women's Rugby World Cup final against Canada at Twickenham / © AFP

Canada's lead lasted just two minutes, however.

Full-back Kildunne, fresh from two tries against France, left two defenders in her slipstream as a typical slalom run saw her score between the posts.

England's pack, with player of the match Sadia Kabeya outstanding, then struck in familiar fashion when a driving maul ended with hooker Cokayne being shoved over for a 19th-minute try.

Canada, with several players at clubs in England's Premiership Women's Rugby competition, knew what was coming but they couldn't cope with their opponents' forward power in the 26th minute.

Scrum-half Natasha Hunt peeled away from the base of a scrum and nearly scored herself before releasing Matthews, who dived over for a try.

Canada's goal-kicking lock Sophie de Goed, named world player of the year after the final, landed a simple 34th-minute penalty to cut England's lead.

England lock Abbie Ward powered over Canada's line early in the second half, but the hosts were reduced to 14 players when prop Hannah Botterman was yellow-carded for dump-tackling Karen Paquin. Hogan-Rochester exploited an overlap out wide to score her second try.

But Matthews put the result beyond doubt 11 minutes from time, driving low and hard, for a try converted by Harrison.