00:00Well, after weeks of rugby here in England, the final of the Women's Rugby World Cup is finally upon us.
00:10And it's England, the hosts, who are set to take on Canada at the home of rugby in this country, which of course is Twickenham in London.
00:19England are probably the favourites given that they are playing on home soil, but Canada will be a formidable opponent.
00:25England, of course, defeated France in the semi-final at Ashton Gate in Bristol.
00:30One of the pre-tournament favourites in France as well.
00:33But the tournament started, of course, a good few weeks ago now, back in the north-east at Sunderland's Stadium of Light, where England defeated the United States of America by a big scoreline.
00:44And since then, they've really grown into the tournament.
00:47So, it's time to hear now from England's captain, Zoe Aldcroft, and their head coach, John Mitchell, ahead of the showpiece event of the tournament, which of course England are desperate to get their hands on.
00:59It would be their third time being crowned world champions if they win at Twickenham against the Canadians.
01:05But the Canadians, who have had a great tournament themselves, will want to get their hands on the trophy too, and prove themselves as one of the best teams in the world.
01:15England, as mentioned, will be favourites, but Canada will be vying to win the match just as much as that.
01:20So then, let's hear from John Mitchell and Zoe Aldcroft ahead of what is the biggest game in women's rugby at the moment, and what is promising to be an exciting encounter at Twickenham.
01:32First, you've got to manage your own. That's the first thing. Have fun with it. Try and not make it any bigger than what it is.
01:42The thing is, we started back in Chester in 23, and now we have the opportunity to finish something.
01:50So we've got to earn that right. So we've presented ourselves that opportunity, and so we've, you know, clearly are excited by the opportunity, but more importantly, we've got into our work over the last three days, recovered from the semi-final and have stayed very, very focused on the plan that we want to execute on the weekend.
02:10Zoe, for you, another chance at a World Cup final. I know the last one didn't go as you had hoped for a couple of reasons. How are you feeling about another opportunity to go in again?
02:21Yeah, I think just as a group, just so excited to kind of get out there. Obviously, we've been working on this now for three years, and it's just like our time now that we really feel like that. And yeah, I just can't wait to get out there on Saturday.
02:34And just lastly, from me, if I can come back to you, John, what have you made of Canada's performance so far at this Rugby World Cup?
02:42Yeah, they've been outstanding. They've played really, really great rugby. We respect them hugely. We believe that, you know, it's going to be, it's going to take an 80-minute performance.
02:55Yeah, they've grown as well. They're fitter. So yeah, they deserve to be in the final as well.
03:01I think it's something that we've never experienced, but we've wanted for so long. And I think just the kind of momentum and the impact that we have had on fans throughout the tournament, from the start of Sunderland to coming now into Twickenham, it's just going to be so exciting to kind of see where we have pushed women's rugby to and just excited for this new era of women's rugby on Saturday.
03:22And what is it like for you as a player who may have experienced kind of a few thousand in the stands to now having a sellout when you're kind of going forward, making those meters and kind of the deafening roar comes down?
03:34What is that like to experience?
03:35Honestly, it's like the gives you goosebumps. It's like the 16th person on the pitch and it just really like pulls you forward. And when you hear like, if someone's made a line break and you hear that roar from the crowd, it's just, you realise, oh my gosh, everyone else is actually here as well.
03:51So yeah, it's just exciting. And we absolutely love having the fans in.
03:55And Mitch, what have you learned during your time with England from these girls?
03:59Sure, how long do you need? There's never a dull moment with these girls. But I guess that's the environment that we've created, you know, back in three years ago, we decided to refresh the environment or the culture in the way that we wanted to act and be seen and behave like, I guess.
04:23And the girls have done that really, really well. But I guess that also starts with from my leadership as well, to be able to create the space to be, to have that fun and enjoy what we do, but still remain very, very focused on setting, setting the right standards and growing, growing our games.
04:41So I think we've done that well together.
Comments