So, the world cup is over and unfortunately we didn’t win it. We lost 13-10 to New Zealand in the final. I’m feeling utterly disappointed. We prepared as well as we could for this tournament and in the end the result didn’t go our way. But we are proud that we played some awesome rugby and put on a great spectacle.

This whole tournament has been one of the best experiences of my life. It hasn’t just been about playing the best rugby we can; it’s been about getting closer as a squad and doing the best we can for each other, our country and our sport. We have taken the women’s game to a whole new level so even though England didn’t get the success story we were after we have achieved another success story.

The final was easily the toughest game we’ve played throughout the world cup but that’s what you expect from a world cup final! We really lifted our game and took it to New Zealand and despite not getting the result we were after, we put on a good show. To have over 13,000 people watching us at the Twickenham Stoop was awesome. I’ve never experienced that kind of support and it feels amazing that we’ve shown the world just what we can do and what women’s rugby is all about.

After the match, when we chatted to the crowd I had so many different people come up to me to congratulate us on how far we’ve taken the women’s game. I was gutted that we lost but to hear that was so uplifting. To hear people chanting your name, to get asked for so many autographs and to have random people want to shake my hand felt incredible. Some people told me the final was the first women’s game they’d ever come to and that we had changed their perspective of women’s rugby. That made everything we do so worthwhile.

It’ll be strange getting back to reality but luckily I’m starting a new role as an RFU community rugby coach in a couple of weeks so that will give me a new focus. After that it’ll be back to rugby and into the RFUW premiership. But for now I’m going to enjoy a bit of time off and rest my body after what has been an incredible three weeks.

Rachael Burford

I’m absolutely over the moon. We beat Australia in the WRWC semi-final 15-0 and now we’re through to the world cup final on Sunday 5th September at the Twickenham Stoop, kick off 5.15pm! Luckily I’m not feeling too bad after the game. I’m not too bruised or battered but I know a few of the girls are feeling it! It was a really tough game against the Australians, but we got the win and that’s all that matters – now we’ve got a world cup final to think about!

After the match it all felt a bit surreal. The fact that we’d won and gotten into the final took a while to sink in. Now that it has we’re obviously thrilled. We’re pleased with how we performed and what we achieved and after we have a bit of a rest we’ll start focusing on the match on Sunday.

Australia played a very physical, hard-hitting game from the off but we took it right back to them. Playing in a semi-final of a world cup at the Stoop is massive occasion and we rose to that. We played some good rugby, we got two tries on the board and we kept a clean sheet. I’m really proud of how we all played. We fully deserve to be in the final.

We’ll be playing New Zealand in the final on Sunday. We know they’re an awesome side so we have a massive job ahead of us. We lost to them four years ago and that still hurts for the players who were involved back then. We want to go out on Sunday and play our best rugby and bring the world cup to England. We beat the Black Ferns last November so we are confident that we can do it again.

Our Head Coach Gary Street is going to have a tough job selecting his starting 15 for the final. I believe that our squad has 26 of the best players in the world. There is so much strength and depth throughout. I don’t envy Gary, but as a player it’s great to feel challenged and to really have to work for your spot. I can’t wait for Sunday. All the hard work we’ve put in this summer and for the last four years comes down to this game. It’s going to be awesome!

Tickets are still available for the final at the Twickenham Stoop on Sunday, September 5. You can buy tickets now via RFU.com or by calling calling Ticketmaster on +44 (0)844 844 2010. For a full schedule of fixtures and to follow England in the WRWC visit www.rfu.com/wrwc.

Rachael Burford

Well we’ve finished our pool games and we finished on a high, getting a third win! We’re absolutely thrilled to get that win and get another bonus point. USA came at us firing on all cylinders from the first whistle. We knew they’d be massively physical and that was exactly how they played, from start to finish.

The atmosphere in the crowd was probably the best it’s been yet. We’ve had great support from our fans for every game but in this game it was incredible. To be fair though, the USA had some amazing support too. It was a bit daunting walking out of the tunnel to huge chants of USA, USA! But the English fans came right back at them just as we knew they would.

Our aim was always to get three wins from three and finish top seeds and that’s what we’ve done. Now we face Australia in the semi final on Wednesday 1st September, kick off 8.15pm, at the Twickenham Stoop. The squad is on such a high that we’ve done so well and we’re all really excited about playing Australia and playing at the Stoop. We do however need to look at how we played against the USA, correct some errors, do our homework and really take it to Australia.

There are lots of sore, tired bodies after the game, myself included. There were some huge tackles in the match, from both sides and that will always take its toll. But this is a world cup and this is what we expect. We want tough, challenging games and we want to feel sore afterwards so we know we’ve worked hard and we’ve deserved our wins.

I have some post-match down time now and I’m going back to my sister’s as she’s cooking me a roast. That is all I’m thinking about right now – some good home cooking and lots of chilling out! When I get back to camp I’ll switch right back on and get focused on Australia.

For WRWC 2010 tickets visit the Ticketmaster website or call 0844 844 2010. The semi finals and final will be held at the Twickenham Stoop. Rugby fans who buy tickets for the WRWC 2010 will also be put on a priority ticketing information list for the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England. For a full schedule of fixtures and to follow England in the WRWC visit www.rfu.com/wrwc

Rachael Burford

Two wins from two! Kazakhstan were our second pool game opponents and we beat them 82-0. It was a tough game as Kazakhstan are a big, physical side but we stuck to our game plan for the full 80 minutes and were able to get the win and the bonus point.

There were some nerves going into the game. There will be in every world cup game, but it definitely felt better than our first game against Ireland. Some of the errors that we made against Kazakhstan were frustrating, but to still put a score like that up, against a hard, physical team is a good start to where we want to go when we play USA this Saturday, kick off 6.30pm at Surrey Sports Park.

To give Kazakhstan credit they played an intense game from start to finish so being able to stick to our game plan and score tries is a massive positive for us. I think because they are an unknown we were told to play what we saw in front of us and that’s just the kind of rugby that we like to play so it really worked for us.

The crowd gave us huge support. It felt just as good as it did when we played against Ireland. Hearing all the singing and cheering was incredible. To run out to that kind of support gives you that extra bit of a boost which is just what you need playing on home soil.

I have a day off now and I’ve nothing planned! I’m a bit sore after the match so I’m looking forward to getting some rest and relaxation! I might go to the cinema with some of the girls, but I really just want to get the feet up and start thinking about the USA game.

We’re completely focused on USA now. We want to go out there and get the win first and foremost and if we can get the bonus point then great. We know they’re a hard, physical team – we learned that last year in August when we played them in the Nations Cup – so we just need to make sure we get our homework done on the training pitch and then get out there and put it into the game.

All of the squad is still having a great time. There’s a great buzz between the players and management. We’re really enjoying ourselves which we’ve got to do, otherwise it’ll fly by and we’d look back and think we missed out on a brilliant experience together. On the way to training we’re singing and we’re the noisiest table at breakfast, dinner and lunch! You’ve got to enjoy these things because if you don’t there’s no point being in them.

Rachael Burford

I’m absolutely delighted, a little bit tired, but ecstatic! We played our first game of the world cup and we beat Ireland 27-0. We wanted a win and we got that and a bonus point! Ireland put up a massive, physical performance and it was an incredibly tough game, but we got the first win on the board so we’re all thrilled.

It was a long day as we didn’t kick off until 6.30pm which meant that we were able to walk around and take in the atmosphere of the event and even watch some of the other games. We had various things going on as a squad during the day including team meetings where we ran through our game plan and a team run through to get our legs moving so the pre-match warm-up wouldn’t be too much of a shock to the system.

The build-up to the game, from our warm-up to Sky knocking on our changing room door to walking out on the pitch was one of the most incredible moments of my life.

The atmosphere at the game was incredible. The Irish had lots of support but the English fans were well able for them! Seeing all the fans that turned out and hearing all the singing and cheering they did for us was hugely inspiring.

The game was really tough as we expected. From the first whistle it felt really quick and at times I felt shattered but this is what international rugby is all about and I relished every moment of it. We had a bit of a nervy start but once we settled into the game we were able to play how we wanted to play and get the win that we came for.

Next up is Kazakhstan. We watched them play against the USA so we know they’re a very physical side. We’ll look at the video of our match against Ireland and then decide on our game plan. We’ve worked long and hard for this and on the back of a good first win we will go into our next game raring to go.

Rachael

I can’t believe the Women’s Rugby World Cup is so close! With only days to go until our world cup campaign kicks off there are some natural nerves but we also know we are prepared.

We have had a long journey getting here since the 2006 WRWC when we lost to the three time champions New Zealand. We have had a very successful four years, which includes winning five consecutive Six Nations Championships, two Nations Cup titles and beating New Zealand on home turf at Twickenham in November last year. All our success has been a stepping-stone to where we are now with lots of lessons learned along the way including some defeats and some very close wins.

In preparing for the World Cup, we’ve had five camps across the country starting in Bath where we got stuck in straight away with a full contact game against each other. This was followed by ‘Toughen up Tuesday’ which is basically a run until you are sick session!

After Bath we headed on to the Brecon Beacons to the army base of the Welsh Guards. We went there to do a teambuilding exercise which involved an overnight patrol, team activities and no sleep. Danielle Waterman (Nolli) and I decided to do things a little differently and snuck up on our head coach Gary Street while he was on his look out post at 3am. I’m not sure if he’s yet recovered from the mild heart attack we gave him!

Since then we have been to Bisham Abbey, Surrey Sports Park in Guildford, which was really useful as we got a heads up on the world cup venue, Loughborough University and Wellington College. All of the camps have been really demanding and there have been some highs as well as some lows, including losing my best friend and teammate Claire Allan through injury. But overall it has been a very memorable experience.

The weekend before the start of the world cup the squad stayed at a spa hotel, so we could have a few days chilling out and pampering. Most of the girls had treatments and relaxed in the pool. Some attempted to play golf which reminded them they should stick to rugby! 

All in all it’s been a tough, but fun summer and it finished with a great weekend. Now that we’ve officially arrived at the Surrey Sports Park we are ready to wear the rose and make our nation proud. Come and support us against Ireland this Friday, KO 6.30pm.