Ibiza, Lady Gaga, DIY & PWR – what the Red Roses did next

Premiership Women’s Rugby – Harlequins v Loughborough Lightning

Twickenham Stoop Date: Friday, October 10th Kick-off: 19:00 BST

The Red Roses were last spotted looking tired, emotional, happy and glorious.

After winning the Women’s Rugby World Cup final against Canada on September 27, they celebrated long into the night at Twickenham’s Cabbage Patch pub before waking up bleary-eyed for a news conference and a public celebration at Battersea Power Station.

Nearly a month later, fly-half Holly Aitchison said, “I don’t think I have taken it all in yet. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind.”

A week of media duties followed as the squad surfed between breakfast TV sofas, radio studios and podcast appearances, while also sneaking in some more celebrating. Vocal cords strained after attending Lady Gaga’s O2 performance.

All Red Roses squad members traveled to various grassroots clubs over the weekend to participate in Rugby Fest, a national open day designed to encourage more women’s players.

Second row Lilli Ives Campion went to Macclesfield, with team-mate Morwenna Talling.

“Irrational, actually insane” was the number of people who showed up. She continued, “There were girls coming over from rugby league teams and from everywhere.”

Then, four months after their first Rugby World Cup training camp, three weeks before the start of the season, there was a brief window for players to get away.

Before making a 10-strong Red Roses’ trip to Ibiza, Captain Zoe Aldcroft squeezed in two vacations, visiting Malaga with her husband Luke and spending time in the Spanish city.

“Both different, and enjoyable”! she said.

The Red Roses on the White Isle included Hannah Botterman, Emily Scarratt, Natasha Hunt, Tatiana Heard, MacKenzie Carson, Campion, and Abbie Ward (a latecomer after missing her flight out), among others.

“We had a great time, we did all the traditional things in Ibiza, and we went to O Beach,” Botterman said.

Not everyone’s celebrations were as exotic.

Prop Sarah Bern, prop, said, “I would say my celebrations have been long, but not as intense as the Ibiza crew.”

“I needed some downtime to recharge myself and just to drink some water for a start!”

” And I actually did a bit of DIY. “

Campion says the interactions and invitations have demonstrated how profoundly the team’s victory in the Rugby World Cup resonated with the general public.

The guy seated next to me tweeted that it was incredible to be a part of a World Cup winner after watching Northampton beat Leicester in the Prem.

” I have also been to my first film premiere – it was for Christy, a film about a female boxer – and it was pretty exciting.

“You could not have foresee how anything would have happened, but it’s amazing to do it with these incredible girls.”

The celebrations begin a brand-new Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) season with the stars on display for their club sides, but only four weeks after Twickenham’s glory.

After the World Cup final, Saracens’ Sophie de Goede, Canada’s World Player of the Year, traveled to Portugal with three other international team-mates.

“We just kind of tuned out of everything, but when I got back to London and turned my phone back on, there was this big flood of messages, showing the excitement about the whole of the World Cup”, she said.

So, I experience a mix of emotions: pride in how the tournament turned out, devastation, disappointment, and frustration with our performance in the final. Holding both of those emotions simultaneously is funny.

” We have four more years of fuel now though, so lots to look forward to. “

De Goede claims that PWR helped Canada achieve its ultimate goals and objectives.

In addition to the five Saracens players who appeared in the English top flight on day 23, six of their matchday 23 were also Saracens players who played in the English top flight.

Saracens coach Alex Austerberry was part of Canada’s backroom staff during their World Cup campaign as well.

De Goede stated that the PWR is a strong league worldwide and that we want to continue to improve and develop our winning strategies.

When there are many fans in the stadium, “we needed to learn how to win big, tight games.”

De Goede says the level of fan interest has been” helpful “in upping the quality of rugby, both individually for players and as a team.

“Hopefully we’ve helped the PWR keep growing, strengthen as a league, and produce a better product on the field,” she continued.

After winning the World Cup, England coach John Mitchell reaffirmed that the league should provide a pipeline of talent for the Red Roses.

” I love seeing 100 English girls playing in PWR, I would love to see more play because then I can have the opportunity to select more, “he said.

The league is a great match because we play against other elite players, but we must keep in mind that our English players are still developing.

In their 23-strong matchday squads, clubs are required to have an average of 13 players who are English-qualified.

However, De Goede has been joined by other global superstars in the league this summer, with Ireland back row Aoife Wafer moving to Harlequins, Canada’s Laetitia Royer coming to Saracens, Scotland wing Rhona Lloyd signing for Sale and New Zealand duo Alana Borland and Georgia Ponsonby linking up with Trailfinders.

Daisy Hibbert-Jones, the England back row for the Loughborough Lightning, made her PWR debut for Firwood Waterloo as a teenager.

She thinks that international stars have raised the standard of the league and raised the average age of the English prospects who sign up.

” The international players make our league really exciting, they bring a different brand of rugby and new faces, “she said.

I believe that if a team has English-qualified players, it must invest in both its future and its players otherwise a team won’t survive.

Another organization wants to recruit the biggest names in women’s rugby.

The planned global series R360, which features all-star franchises sides, has the goal of having four women’s teams compete in its event, which is scheduled to launch in October 2026.

It has been reported by the Daily Telegraph that R360 has made approaches to a number of Red Roses.

Aldcroft claimed that “I have heard very little about it.”

What are your thoughts on it? I am not really sure, at the moment I am just full-on Gloucester Hartpury and happy to be in the PWR.

“Over the past few years, we have grown the PWR in an incredible amount.

Who has a sense of what this league will bring? Maybe they could invest in our PWR, that would be good”.

Genevieve Shore, the league’s manager, said she would understand if any PWR stars signed a bigger contract in R360, but that a four-team competition lacked the breadth and variety on offer and wouldn’t produce the stars of tomorrow.