On Monday 28th July 26 women departed from Twickenham Stadium, their destination, Paris and the most important tournament in the sport, the Women’s
Rugby World Cup. Over 17 days 12 teams will fight it out to succeed New Zealand
as World Champions and England are more than ready for challenge ahead.
As in the men’s game the Kiwi’s
are a dominant force having won the tournament four times in succession in 1998,
2002, 2006 and lastly in 2010. Conversely England have won just once back in
1994 and for the past three tournaments have had to make do with the Runners Up
position. So the question is will this tournament be England’s time?
Head Coach Gary Street certainly
thinks so and he has been on a mission to push his side further than they ever
have been pushed before in order to ensure that the intensity of playing 5
games in 17 days is one that can be handled with ease. Initiatives like ‘Toughen
Up Tuesdays’ have been painful but critical for Street’s side and his squad is
fitter and hungrier than ever before.
This 2014 England Squad is packed
with talent and experience; Katy Mclean leads from the front, she has 380 test points to her name and is described by Street as ‘his eyes on the
pitch’. Centre Emily Scarratt is tipped by many as one of the world’s best
centres and she also has the ability to devastate defences from full back, she adds spark to England's impressive back line. Finally in the
forwards the experience of Maggie Alphonsi is invaluable, her tireless
work-rate lifts the entire squad and when the going gets tough she is a player that you are truly thankful to have in your ranks.
However we all know that individuals don’t
make a World Cup winning side, instead it is about collective effort,
togetherness and a steely will to win and these women have that in abundance. As
RPA Player of the Year Rachel Burford highlighted to Sky Sports the tournament
really is the be all and end all for this squad; “A lot of us have put our
whole lives on hold for our rugby careers and it would just mean everything to
us.”
England will start their campaign on Friday 1st August against Samoa before turning their attention to Spain 4 days
later and finally Canada. Now the tournament has arrived all talk of the title
ceases and the focus shifts solely to Friday’s game, Mclean and her side are
ready, their time is now. These women have been pushed to their limits and now they must believe in their
own abilities in order to take a step into the unknown and reach the heights
that they have been dreaming of, and working for, for the past four years.
Squad to Face Samoa
15 Danielle Waterman 14 Katherine Merchant 13 Emily Scarratt 12 Rachael Burford 11 Lydia Thompson 10 Katy Mclean (Captain) 9 Natasha Hunt 1 Rochelle Clark 2 Emma Croker 3 Laura
Keates 4 Joanna McGilchrist 5 Tamara Taylor 6 Heather Fisher 7 Margaret Alphonsi 8 Sarah Hunter Replacements: 16 Victoria Fleetwood 17 Claire
Purdy 18 Rebecca Essex 19 Marlie Packer 20 La Toya
Mason 21 Ceri Large 22 Kay Wilson
Group Fixtures
Friday, August 1: England v
Samoa, KO 5pm BST, Marcoussis, (Sky Sports 3)
Tuesday, August 5: England v
Spain, KO 2.45pm BST, Marcoussis, (Sky Sports 1)
Saturday, August 9: England v
Canada, KO 2.45pm BST, Marcoussis, (Sky Sports 1)
Full match schedule here
