Less than a month after watching their counterparts propel the nation into a state of footballing ecstasy by winning the UEFA European Women’s Championships, England’s Red Roses are ready to do the same and send women’s rugby into the stratosphere.
That is the single-minded message coming from a camp that is clearly happy to embrace all the pressure that comes with being the world No.1 ranked side and hosts of the biggest ever women’s rugby tournament.
“You look at what they did in the Euros and what that did for women’s sport, not just women’s football, we want to have a similar effect,” Hannah Botterman said at a media day ahead of opening up against USA on Friday night at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light.
“For women’s rugby, it would be unbelievable to see a boom in participation. Hopefully we can get to the final and reproduce what the football girls did.”
A 27-match unbeaten run, stretching back to their 34-31 defeat to New Zealand in the RWC 2021 final, only ratchets up the expectation levels for a side who have not lifted the Women’s Rugby World Cup Trophy since 2014.
Something the Red Roses insist they are comfortable with.
“I don’t know a time when the Red Roses haven’t been under pressure,” forward Abbie Ward said. “I’ve been part of two World Cups when we’ve gone in as favourites and we haven’t won. The day the Red Roses don’t have that pressure will feel weird.
“I think we enjoy it, we thrive on it. It’s something we can use in our favour. It’s a home World Cup so that’s an advantage – all that extra noise, having our friends and family there. The girls will harness it and hopefully we’ll see that in the performances.”
That final part is key. England intend to enjoy their once-in-a-generation opportunity.
“We’ve played in other World Cups but to have a home one is so special,” Ward said. “I’m very proud that we can be opening in Sunderland in the north. It’s almost like a roadshow, down to Northampton and Brighton and the final being in Twickenham.”
The fact that every open training session is drawing huge numbers, let alone the 40,000-plus expected on Friday night, is what drives these players on.
“I found inspiration from every single person who was able to watch our training session today, hearing their stories, hearing what they’ve done,” star winger Abby Dow confirmed.
“Ultimately that’s what professional sport is, the bigger picture is what can we do to engage kids to inspire them. And I think being able to see that inspiration before the World Cup’s even begun is what’s inspiring the whole team.”
Dow, whose 98-year-old grandad will be one of those in the stands on Friday night, is adamant that this team has what it takes to finally turn expectation into silverware.
“The one thing that Mitch (head coach John Mitchell) has done really well is unpack (the RWC 2021 final defeat) and actually reset who we are,” Dow said.
“We’ve worked out who we are individually. We’ve worked out what we want to be as a team. We’ve combined them in the route that we needed to take. And I think we’re a very different team from what we were then. We’re much stronger, more dynamic, more bold to do what we want to do.”
And while the 54-cap winger will be revelling in world-class rugby taking place in her northern home-from-home, she knows she has a job to do.
“I think I’ll leave the emotions until after the game,” Dow said simply. “The whole team want to make sure we can go and create something, start a platform, start a legacy that we want to be building and I think how perfect will that be on Friday night.
“Right, lights are on, let’s go play.”