\u201cI was telling myself: \u2018Don\u2019t cry right now, Zoe. Do not cry right now.\u2019 But I just knew that we\u2019d done it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zoe Aldcroft is reflecting on the moment last month when she realised England had won the Women\u2019s Rugby World\u00a0Cup. There were 12 minutes to play at a sold-out, increasingly euphoric Twickenham, but the hosts had created a 20-point cushion against\u00a0Canada thanks to Alex Matthews\u2019s second try.<\/p>\n
Aldcroft was correct: the game was settled at 33-13<\/a>. A lifelong dream for her \u2013 and all the Red Roses \u2013 was about to become reality.<\/p>\n \u201cI ran back to the line and I was like: \u2018Oh my God, we\u2019ve done it.\u2019 I saw my family and they were like [she clenches both fists]: \u2018Come on, come on!\u2019 Another moment was when Ellie Kildunne put that spiral bomb up [before the final try]. I thought: \u2018We\u2019ve got this in the palm of our hands.\u2019 And the final whistle. We\u2019ll never forget that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Aldcroft describes the weeks since as a \u201cmassive whirlwind\u201d. Pressed to choose one word to describe the entire experience, she settles on \u201cphenomenal\u201d. It\u2019s back down to business now: the Premiership Women\u2019s Rugby season begins next Friday and the flanker has returned to training this week with the champions, Gloucester-Hartpury. After a run of three consecutive titles, they will kick off against Saracens at Kingsholm on Sunday week.<\/p>\n Hopefully she had time for a holiday first? \u201cI had a few days away with my husband, Luke, then to Ibiza with a few of the Red\u00a0Roses,\u201d Aldcroft says. \u201cThat was unbelievable, it was great. We went to Pacha and it was really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n Aldcroft (second right), and her England teammate Alex Matthews (right), train with Winscombe Warriors at the home of Melksham RFC in Wiltshire. Photograph: Ben Birchall\/PA<\/p>\n The break was well earned. As captain of the overwhelming favourites, the 28-year-old shouldered a remarkable amount of pressure, particularly after England\u2019s heartbreak at previous World Cups. Reminded of the crucial second-half try against France in England\u2019s semi-final<\/a>, when they led 7-5, Aldcroft describes the calmness under pressure that made the difference.<\/p>\n \u201cI think one of our greatest strengths as Red Roses is we are so calm in those moments,\u201d Aldcroft says. \u201cI remember half-time [in the semi-final] being literally a couple of instructions and we were like: \u2018All right, there we go then.\u2019 Even when Canada scored first in the final there was no emotion to it. We\u2019ve got so much belief.\u201d<\/p>\n What did she take from the tournament? \u201cI learned every single day about who I am, the leader I am, the leader I want to be,\u201d Aldcroft says. \u201cThe biggest thing I\u2019ve taken is going off feel: instinct is probably my biggest strength.<\/p>\n \u201cTrying to get a sense of what everyone\u2019s feeling, how they\u2019re motivated, if they need to be left alone or brought together. And leading into the final, how people dealt with that: everyone is so different. You need to work out how they want to be. Everyone in\u00a0that week just switched it on and\u00a0we were ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n England\u2019s men\u2019s World Cup winners of 2003 have described their struggles in returning quickly to club duty, and Aldcroft admits it has not been entirely straightforward. \u201cSunday came and it was: \u2018Right, got to switch back to club.\u2019<\/p>\n I had a couple of calls with Murph [the new Gloucester\u2011Hartpury coach Dan Murphy] last week. He was going over what was new and I was like: \u2018I do not want to be listening to this right now.\u2019 But for me to be part of this journey going into the season is important.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week’s action reviewed<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to \u2018park\u2019 the World Cup because it\u2019s important to take it with me through the season. After that final I felt really free. That was an incredible feeling. I\u00a0want to take that into this year and\u00a0just be able to have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n Aldcroft celebrates with the trophy during after the World Cup final. Photograph: Bob Bradford\/CameraSport\/Getty Images<\/p>\n It may seem that with the World\u00a0Cup secured and three consecutive PWR titles under Gloucester-Hartpury\u2019s belt, there are no worlds left to conquer. Beyond winning more silverware Aldcroft describes the more subtle factors now driving her. \u201cThis only came to me yesterday, but I think a big motivation for me now is bringing that next generation up. We\u2019ve got a lot of new girls that have come through the pathway at\u00a0Gloucester-Hartpury.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to lead them through my actions, give them my knowledge, to help them come up through their own journey. And also finding things I want to improve: whether that be mindset, experiences, skills on the pitch. But yeah, that was my biggest one: bringing up that next group of players to join the Red Roses.\u201d<\/p>\n A World Cup win is a life\u2011changing experience for any athlete, and Aldcroft confirms her agent has been busy. \u201cThere are a lot of things coming in. It\u2019s important to take those opportunities, to put ourselves out there and expand women\u2019s rugby. Personally I\u2019m quite a content person so I\u2019ll take it as it comes. I\u2019m happy to do things if they come and not if they don\u2019t. I\u2019m just taking it in my stride.\u201d<\/p>\n Just like she did in winning a World Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI was telling myself: \u2018Don\u2019t cry right now, Zoe. Do not cry right now.\u2019 But I just knew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-215820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}