Outside chatter of a Rugby World Cup favourites tag and expectations on a team can only go so far, the Red Roses had to go out and prove it on the pitch. The host nation more than lived up to their hype as they kicked off their campaign in front of a record crowd for an opening game at a women’s World Cup with a hugely dominant display against the USA which has underlined their ambitions for the World Cup crown.
The prop Hannah Botterman and the centre Megan Jones were standouts in a good team display and the scary thought for their future opponents is that the performance was far from England’s best.
