England celebrated their opening-day victory over USA with some singing on the team bus as well as “a little boogie in the changing room”, say Emily Scarratt and Maud Muir.
The Red Roses ran in 11 tries in their victory over their American opponents, which puts John Mitchell’s side firmly in control of Pool A ahead of games against Samoa and Australia.
While there were things for the team to work on as they progress through the tournament, it was near enough the perfect way to get their campaign underway in front of a big home crowd in Sunderland.
Asked how the Red Roses celebrated their win, prop Muir said: “We had a little boogie in the changing room, as we always do, just enjoying the little moments. It was such a cool event and such an amazing day to actually celebrate it as well.”
There were 42,723 packed into the Stadium of Light on Friday, a record for a women’s Rugby World Cup match.
“We stepped off the bus in Sunderland at the weekend and there’s crowds everywhere, the noise, the support there was, as well as fireworks going off,” Scarratt said.
“As we were walking up the steps into the stadium, I caught (England assistant coach) Sarah Hunter’s eyes and we were both a bit like, ‘wow!’
“We’ve obviously gone through the whole thing and seen it where sometimes people don’t even realise that you have rocked up to a stadium or at the pitch.
“When we walked out for the anthem, just trying to take it all in because you don’t know when those moments will end.”
Scarratt was selected on the bench for the game, and when she entered the fray in the second half, made history as the first person from England to feature in five Rugby World Cups.
“When I was about to go onto the field and afterwards, everyone was incredibly nice about it and wanted to congratulate me and stuff, which is cool, as did lots of people there,” Scarratt says.
“But, singing on the bus is the main way that we tend to mark occasions, which you would think should be a nice thing, but it wasn’t the best!”
The 35-year-old says she is making a conscious effort to “savour” Rugby World Cup 2025 as she won’t be playing at the next one – but that doesn’t mean she has any retirement plans just yet.
“It’s still the love of it, fundamentally. I always said as soon as I start to kind of drag my feet a bit with either training or whatever, then it’s a clear sign to me,” she said.
“But I still feel like I can offer something, and I still want to challenge myself. If you think you’ve mastered things again, it’s probably a good time to step aside, but there’s still certain areas that I want to improve on.”
Up next England face Samoa at Franklin’s Gardens in Northampton, a ground Scarratt has plenty of experience playing in, and she excited to get out there with the aim to continue the celebrations for England’s Rugby World Cup party.
“We are really looking forward to getting out there,” she said. “We know that the Northampton fans are unbelievable as well as the traveling fans, so no doubt the support will be exactly the same.”
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