FORMER World Cup winner Maggie Alphonsi believes England will be “desperate” to get over the line and win next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup.
The Red Roses are competing on home soil at the 2025 World Cup and will be aiming to go one step further following a difficult loss in the 2021 final, where New Zealand came from behind to clinch their sixth title with a 34-31 victory at Eden Park.
The Black Ferns have been a constant thorn in England’s side at World Cups, beating them in five finals since 2002.
England’s World Cup opener at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light is now only nine months away and the team are in a strong position, having not tasted defeat since that 2021 final loss and currently ranked number one in the world.
Additionally, they recorded victories over New Zealand in September and October this year and Alphonsi hopes England can channel some of that success for the World Cup, which has already seen over 130,000 tickets sold through pre-sales.
“England definitely need to take and harness all the success they’ve had against New Zealand in between World Cups,” Alphonsi told the PA news agency.
“Some might say they have a mental block when it comes to playing New Zealand in a World Cup because England, even the teams I’ve been part of, have never beaten New Zealand in a World Cup.
“England have to really channel that success and confidence of beating New Zealand in between to harness that for the World Cup.
“But at the same time, England can’t think about New Zealand, because if you spend too much time thinking about them then all of a sudden other teams sneak through.
“Canada, we played them in the final in 2014, and at one stage I think they probably could have knocked us out of that tournament.
“I think for England it’s all about that mentality as well as physical strength and fitness, have they got the mindset to get it over the line?
“That’s going to be the big thing because they’ve missed out so many times. They’ve been in every final, but it’s been 10 years since we last won a World Cup. They’re going to want to desperately get it over the line this time around.”
England’s last taste of World Cup glory came in 2014 when they claimed a 21-9 victory over Canada in Paris.
Alphonsi was part of that team and announced her international retirement shortly after the triumph, admitting it was a “relief” to finally secure the trophy.
“It was amazing because it was a tournament in France and I think I’d started to see women’s rugby get much more attention,” Alphonsi added.
“When we won it in 2014, for me personally, it was a relief. For me and my team-mates, it was 12 years on that journey of trying to get to that point of winning that World Cup, and we finally did it.
“It was a really amazing occasion because family and friends were able to come out and see France, it was very special.”
