Captain keen to make history with win over New Zealand

THEIR male counterparts may be having a rough time of it at the moment but that isn’t putting the captain of England’s women’s rugby side off.

On Sunday, Keynsham’s Catherine Spencer hopes to steer England to Rugby World Cup glory when they face the mighty New Zealand.

Catherine, who quit her job at Yate Leisure Centre to concentrate on winning the trophy for the first time since 1994, has admitted it’s “all or nothing”.

The 31-year-old scored the first try in the 15-0 win over Australia at Twickenham Stoop in London on Wednesday and her Bristol teammate Sophie Hemming came on as a replacement in the game but will hope her performance will earn her a place in the starting line-up on Sunday.

Catherine, who has won almost 60 caps for England at No 8, knows that her side will have to step up a gear to beat a New Zealand team who have won the last three World Cups.

The Black Ferns, who have twice beaten England in World Cup finals, breezed past France 45-7 in last Wednesday’s other semi-final – scoring seven tries in the process.

But Catherine is desperate to emulate Martin Johnson, who famously led England’s male equivalents to glory by beating Australia 20-17 in Sydney back in 2003.

In three years as captain she has won three Six Nations titles, two by Grand Slam, and last November England defeated New Zealand at Twickenham.

“We’ve come into this tournament wanting to win it – second is nowhere for us,” Catherine said.

She added: “I’m really excited about playing in the final.

“It was a tough game against Australia, it was important we got some points on the board early, which we did, and once again our defence held firm. It was such a hard match but that will put us in good stead for the final.

“It was great to play at the Stoop. The atmosphere was brilliant and I think that will step up again on Sunday so it’s very exciting that we’ll be there and it’s brilliant that it’ll be against New Zealand, the reigning world champions.

“We’re going into the final confident as we beat New Zealand in November and we know we’ve got the potential to beat them again.

“We’ve just got to keep performing and step up again.”

England head coach Gary Street, whose side have defeated Ireland, Kazakhstan, USA and Australia en route to the final, added: “I’m delighted we are in the final. This is just reward for all the management and players who have worked so hard.

“New Zealand are obviously a world class side, but they’ll find us their toughest opponents yet.

“The last time we played them we also won so we won’t fear them.

“I’m sure it’ll be an epic encounter and I know that the public will once again see a game of great quality from the best two women’s teams in the world.”

The final takes place at 5.15pm at the Twickenham Stoop ground on Sunday. Coverage of the game is live on Sky Sports 3.