If you want to know how it feels to lose a World Cup final there are few better to consult than Rochelle Clark. She has been involved in four of them and England\u2019s second most-capped player \u2013 male or female \u2013 has experienced defeat three times. The first, in 2006, was a particularly bitter pill. \u201cIt feels as if you\u2019ve had your heart ripped out. It\u2019s absolutely horrific. You don\u2019t know pain like it.\u201d<\/p>\n
So when \u201cRocky\u201d did finally win one in 2014<\/a>, at her third attempt, it surpassed anything she had ever previously experienced. \u201cFor me it was the best day of my life and something I\u2019ll always cherish,\u201d she says. \u201cEven talking about it now I\u2019m smiling. I can still close my eyes and remember lifting up the trophy and the little gold ticker tape flying everywhere. It was magnificent.\u201d<\/p>\n Welcome to the vast emotional gulf separating success and failure at every World Cup. It was not dissimilar for the prop\u2019s former teammate Maggie Alphonsi, who had decided in advance that the 2014 World Cup final would be her final Test: \u201cI remember crying the night before the final because I knew it would be the last time I\u2019d get that jersey.\u201d Her modern successors, she thinks, should try to adopt the mindset she belatedly embraced. \u201cThe next morning I thought: \u2018Right. I\u2019m done with that, let\u2019s focus on getting the job done.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n But let\u2019s be realistic. On a historic weekend such as this, set to smash all previous records for a standalone women\u2019s fixture, that can be easier said than done. As Clark puts it: \u201cIt\u2019s really bizarre trying to treat it like any other game if you know it\u2019s the biggest game of your life and will potentially change rugby for ever.\u201d And talking to some of England\u2019s former greats \u2013 queens of the stone age years when women\u2019s rugby was less celebrated \u2013 there is agreement that the actual game is only half the story.<\/p>\n Alphonsi, for one, cannot wait to see a sold-out Twickenham: \u201cI\u2019m genuinely not quite sure how I\u2019m going to handle the emotions. I\u2019ve never seen Twickenham at full capacity for a women\u2019s game. That sentence just blows my mind. If we\u2019d had all this back in 2014 it would have been amazing. I\u2019m proud of all the women who have pushed that along and been involved on and off the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n Others, such as Catherine Spencer, the outstanding No 8 who led England in the last World Cup final on home soil in 2010, have already felt a surge of wonderment during this tournament, along with an understandable twinge of: \u201cIt could have been me.\u201d As Spencer says: \u201cI thought my emotions had started to settle but then I took my daughter May to the England v Australia game at Brighton. It was a fantastic atmosphere and when the teams lined up for the anthems I just burst into tears.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was definitely an element of: \u2018Look where we are!\u2019 Then you think: \u2018Wow, it would have been amazing to play in front of that.\u2019 But, equally, when I played in front of 13,000 people at Twickenham [in 2010], that felt amazing because it had never happened before.\u201d<\/p>\n Amid all the excitement, though, there is another less comfortable narrative. What if a fully professional, enviably resourced England lose to a side that, in part, has had to crowdfund its path to this tournament and contains firefighters and teachers in its midst? Canada are a proper team, as they showed against New Zealand in the semi-final<\/a>, but even so? \u201cYou have to say that if England don\u2019t win it has to be considered a failure,\u201d continues Spencer. \u201cThey\u2019ve had so much investment. If England don\u2019t win another World Cup with the resources they have you kind of have to ask questions. And ditto if Canada win it, with the resources they have.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I was completely objective I think my heart would lie with Canada. They\u2019ve had to fight very\u00a0different battles to be at this World Cup. I think England have played good rugby at times but Canada have been absolutely outstanding. Everyone\u2019s fighting for their own fairy tale.\u201d<\/p>\n Maggie Alphonsi runs in to score a try against France in 2013. She feels England will feel \u2018failure\u2019 if they do not win the final. Photograph: Shaun Botterill\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Alphonsi also believes there is much at stake despite the tournament having already transformed the profile of the women\u2019s game. \u201cIf England win it will be the cherry on the top,\u201d she says. \u201cThey\u2019ve already created a significant legacy and attendances have been amazing. But anyone associated with this team will say that if they don\u2019t win this World Cup it will be a failure. It\u2019s something they\u2019ve been working towards since 2014. If they don\u2019t win, it\u2019ll be really heartbreaking in terms of not achieving their KPI [key performance indicators]. For John Mitchell, his coaching staff and his players they need this World Cup. If I was still a player then deep down anything other than a win is a failure.\u201d<\/p>\n Clark, for her part, sounds ready to get her boots back on despite having just completed a 750-mile charity cycle ride (@goldengirlsrugby<\/a> on Instagram) with three other former players to raise funds and awareness for motor neurone disease. Clark says: \u201cThe best piece of advice I\u2019ve ever had is: \u2018When you\u2019re under pressure, go to your strengths.\u2019 Don\u2019t\u00a0try and force a massive pass if you\u2019re an amazing ball-carrier. Just try and do what you\u2019re best at and that\u2019ll get you in the game.<\/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 Rochelle Clark celebrates a victory over France in 2016. Of Saturday\u2019s final she says: \u2018It is going to change the game for ever, whatever happens.\u2019 Photograph: Peter Cziborra\/Reuters<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s be honest, England haven\u2019t been under masses of pressure which I think Canada will bring. The biggest thing is that everybody sticks to process. If you try and force things and you\u2019re panicked that\u2019s when things muck up. You\u2019ve got to be patient and stay in the arm wrestle.\u201d<\/p>\n Not without good reason has Clark recently been elevated to World Rugby\u2019s Hall of Fame reserved for the creme de la creme of the global game. And yet, in the\u00a0end, what shines through brightest from her and her old Red Rose comrades is the shared joy that, finally, women\u2019s rugby is\u00a0reaching the promised land largely denied to them. \u201cI think it is\u00a0going to change the game for ever, whatever happens in the final,\u201d Clark says.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are now noticing that women\u2019s rugby is amazing to watch and that people need to back it. We saw with the Lionesses how that grew and attracted new fans. If England win the World Cup it will rocket the support in England.\u201d<\/p>\n Unless, of course, the can-do Canadians have other ideas.<\/p>\n