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They think it’s all over. And finally, for England’s women, it is now. The last time the Red Roses lifted the World Cup was 11 years ago and defeat on home turf in front of a world-record 81,885 crowd would have been beyond devastating. Hence the tears of relief and shared collective joy at the final whistle as they finally brought the big one home.
Among other things this trophy has brought them the validation they dearly wanted and, in truth, needed. Since the introduction of full-time professional contracts in 2019, the Red Roses have won 74 of the 76 matches they have contested. The number of registered female participants in Canadian rugby would barely fill half of England’s towering citadel.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity the hosts simply could not afford to squander and their pack, in particular, enthusiastically grabbed it with both hands.
So roll on the celebration after-party at Battersea power station on Sunday afternoon, the latest air-punching moment in this special summer of women’s sport. When it mattered England delivered by some distance their most convincing 80-minute performance and all the angst of past failures melted away. English rugby has spent years hailing the boys of 2003 and they now have some fresher-faced, modern-day competition.
And what a memorable day it was all round. Inclusive, happy audiences, a feelgood vibe ... this tournament genuinely does seem to have captured the public imagination. Out on the concourses there were significantly more young children and teenage girls than normal. And, perhaps most noticeably of all, an awful lot more hair than Twickenham crowds usually possess. Gone were the waxed jackets and bald heads of middle England, replaced by cowgirl hats and ponytails. Goodbye, Barbour; hello, Barbie.
You could tell it was a full-fat Twickenham occasion hours earlier because the matchday traffic was suitably appalling. But the novelty value more than made up for such minor inconveniences. Sophie Lloyd and her electric guitar ripped it up before kick-off, the now-familiar strains of Livin’ on a Prayer were dialled up to 11 and the pre-game noise levels were up there with anything this venue has recently known.
Even the celebs wanted a piece of it all. Justin “Red” Rose sent a message from the Ryder Cup, the Lioness Lucy Bronze was in the crowd and royal best wishes arrived from the palace. Shania Twain, sadly, had a prior engagement and couldn’t make it but, most important of all, Canada turned up big-time out on the field. When they scored the afternoon’s first try through Asia Hogan-Rochester, the same thought flashed through the mind of every English fan. They couldn’t, could they?
It was just as well that England had their shaggy-haired secret weapon lying in wait. If any further proof were required, after her brace of semi-final tries, Ellie Kildunne has rocket boosters in her specially designed white boots and four or five would-be tacklers were left in her wake as she swerved and surged away to register a quite brilliant individual score. “Kildunne and dusted” read a handwritten sign in the crowd but it was still way too early to relax.
Unfortunately for Canada, it was also only half the story. While individual brilliance catches the eye, collective power is even harder to counter. England’s secondary shove in the scrums gave their opponents due warning from the outset and when they did make it into the Canada 22 their maul was its usual formidable weapon. The hungry caterpillar rarely lets England down and made the difference again here.
Canada could have enlisted every strapping lumberjack in British Columbia and still wouldn’t have stopped the inevitable rumbles that laid the platform for England’s second and third tries and, later on, the two crucial second-half scrum penalties that snuffed out Canada’s comeback. Every time the physical effort took a little bit more out of the legs of Canada’s forwards and made it that little bit harder for them to gallop freely elsewhere.
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And that, ultimately, is what all that extra funding and deeper player resources gives you. When England start tiring they have the luxury of bringing on their own Bomb Squad equivalent who could just as easily start. What they occasionally lack in subtlety they more than atone for in terms of close-quarter effectiveness. John Mitchell, the head coach, and his forwards lieutenant, Louis Deacon, have not spent the last three years idly making daisy-chains.
The Red Roses’ ability to slow down Canada’s ruck ball was another crucial element. The ruck speed that blew New Zealand away in the semi-final was still there in patches but, at other times, there would be Hannah Botterman or Zoe Aldcroft to swoop and kill Canadian momentum at crucial moments. The player of the match, Sadia Kabeya, and Alex Matthews put their bodies on the line constantly and, defensively, it was telling when Canada, at 21-5 down, opted to kick a penalty rather than hurl themselves once more at the white barricade in front of them.
Back on at half-time, predictably, came Bon Jovi’s tantalising message – “We’re half-way the-re!” – but surely it would now take Shania, Justin Bieber, Michael Bublé and Rush in their collective heydays to change the contest’s prevailing tune? Particularly when Abbie Ward drive ferociously low and hard for her side’s fourth, reinforcing her reputation as the toughest mother in the land.
Canada’s gallant mini-fightback, in the circumstances, was even more praiseworthy. For this World Cup they have had to launch a million-dollar crowd-funding drive, supported by among others the Canadian band the Tragically Hip. By the time the next tournament comes around in Australia in 2029, you can only hope that more women’s teams are better funded and more sides are in a position to challenge England’s supreme queens.
