{"id":76654,"date":"2025-08-19T00:53:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T00:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/76654\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T00:53:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T00:53:10","slug":"it-is-quite-emotional-thinking-about-it-now-i-waited-a-day-to-tell-my-partner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/76654\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It is quite emotional thinking about it now. I waited a day to tell my partner.’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We\u2019re eager to get going at the World Cup<\/a>. We\u2019ve had really decent prep. Now I believe we\u2019re ready to test it out and see how far we go in the tournament. This will be my third World Cup<\/a> and every tournament the feeling has been different.<\/p>\n

This team has been developing a lot and grown so much over the years. Our prep has been the best of the past four cycles.<\/p>\n

It has been huge for us. It\u2019s definitely different for so many reasons. This World Cup<\/a> is exciting for the fact that we\u2019ve proven to ourselves constantly that we can win big games.<\/p>\n

\"Video<\/p>\n

\u2018This Energy Never Stops\u2019 \u2013 Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2025<\/p>\n

\"Video\u2018This Energy Never Stops\u2019 \u2013 Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2025<\/p>\n

We\u2019re pretty consistent at the moment and we\u2019re in a good position. Now the big show is here, I\u2019m like; \u2018how far can we go?\u2019 In 2022 we had a pretty decent collection of young and experienced players.<\/p>\n

We knew we could go far in that tournament but fell short to England in the semi-final. It was heartbreak for us. Now there\u2019s more expectation but the group feels prepared and ready. We know we could go far in this tournament and find ourselves in the final, where there could be a rematch against England. That\u2019s the sort of thing you look for in your career.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an honour to captain the team for this World Cup<\/a>. I am biased, but it\u2019s the best team in the world. I first captained the team in the final WXV 1<\/a> game last year against England.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got some great teammates and there are some amazing leaders in the group which makes everything easier. After my call with K\u00e9vin (Rouet, Canada\u2019s head coach), when he told me that I was captain for this tournament, I kind of felt bad as soon as I logged off the call that I wasn\u2019t really expressive.<\/p>\n

I was probably smiling up to my ears, but I and K\u00e9vin are not the most expressive people. Inside it was a whirlwind of emotions, but because I\u2019m not expressive I put it in a box to deal with later.<\/p>\n

I processed it when I was in the car, I told my mom right after too. It is quite emotional thinking about it now. I must be a weirdo, because I waited a day to tell my partner. We weren\u2019t in the same place, so I waited until we were at brunch enjoying a good coffee.<\/p>\n

It was an honour to be nominated last year for World Rugby Player of the Year and just the other week to be named fourth in RugbyPass\u2019 Top 50 Women\u2019s Players<\/a> list.<\/p>\n

It is a crazy feeling being recognised on the world stage alongside so many other talented players. At the same time my team is performing and that has made my life so much easier. That makes it a lot easier for me to get recognition.<\/p>\n

Our game against Ireland was a decent win. It wasn\u2019t perfect, but it was our last bit of prep before the World Cup<\/a> and it was important. Over the past couple of months in the Pacific Four Series, against South Africa and the USA.<\/p>\n

Belfast was no different. We had a very strong first half in which we managed to impose our tempo. Ireland tried to slow us down, but that is something we have to expect. The strategy of most teams will be to slow us down. Which is fair.<\/p>\n

We need to learn how to deal with that. In the second half it was the reverse. In the first half they got penalised more and we made the most of that, then we weren\u2019t the most disciplined. It was good learning for us. We need to be able to manage an 80 minute performance, keep our tempo high and stay in control because there is no excuse in us easing our foot off the gas.<\/p>\n

I really hope our style of play can capture people. We know that even though we are second in the world, some people may not have seen us play.<\/p>\n

It is all from K\u00e9vin\u2019s mentality. He\u2019s French, he brought this French mentality and we have this group of players, who he wanted to embrace the uniqueness of. He has always found a way to utilise what he has in a group of players and bring out the best of each individual. Everyone has benefitted from his vision.<\/p>\n

In our second Test against South Africa one of our second rows moved to the back-row and then finished off the game with a 60m try on the wing.<\/p>\n

But it is not complete chaos. We are really intentional as a team and accurate in our details. Organised chaos. There is a lot about what we do on the field that reminds me why I love rugby. One of the big things in this sport is that it doesn\u2019t matter if you are six foot tall, five foot tall, big, small or anything like that.<\/p>\n

In the past I have heard players being told they need to put on 10kg to play a certain position. That doesn\u2019t matter. K\u00e9vin doesn\u2019t care about that.<\/p>\n

Hopefully younger girls and boys never feel restricted and get inspired by us. There\u2019s just so much you can do with rugby. You don\u2019t have to come from a rich background. You can be whatever you want when you pick up a ball.<\/p>\n

Our style of play is inspired by that, because it doesn\u2019t matter what you look like. Just what you bring. At the time of writing there is less than a week until we play Fiji in our World Cup<\/a> opener in York. It is really exciting to be so close to the tournament.<\/p>\n

Fixture<\/p>\n

Women’s Rugby World Cup<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Canada Women <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Fiji Women <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As I said at the start, we are eager to get things underway and show the world what we are about. Fiji look quick. Fast and physical. They\u2019ve got this unique Fijian ability to keep the ball alive.<\/p>\n

At this point it is a matter of who can hold onto the ball best between us and them. We\u2019ll look to dominate them physically and at the set-piece.<\/p>\n

If we get the set-piece right then our life gets so much easier. If we can beat them with our athleticism and smarts I think we\u2019ll definitely have a good day. Then matching physicality on defence.<\/p>\n

Those are the points we\u2019re looking into heading into that game. We\u2019ve done so much hard work. Now it\u2019s time to put everything we\u2019ve learned into action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re eager to get going at the World Cup. We\u2019ve had really decent prep. Now I believe we\u2019re…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-76654","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}