Wallaroos co-captain Emily Chancellor is hoping to extend her birthday celebrations into a win over Samoa in Manchester.
Chancellor celebrated her 34th birthday with the co-captaincy and a start in the back row for Saturday’s opening World Cup game.
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“It would be a lovely birthday present but I think I've probably ridden the birthday message a little bit too long in this environment. I think I got about 12 happy birthday songs sung to me,” she said and laughed.
“But ultimately, we're here to win this World Cup and starting from game one, we want to come out firing.
“We want to be able to put on a performance that sends a message to the rest of the World Cup, but also something that will show to us as a team that the work we've been putting in has set us up in the right space and I think we're ready and raring to go.”
The energy has been infectious, radiating out of the Wallaroos ever since the welcome event on Sunday, where players were racing onto the stage to dance and embrace the moment.
There are ten players on their World Cup debuts, with the excitement around that evident as the players went through their final Captain’s Run with RA CEO Phil Waugh amongst the onlookers.
“I think we've spent a lot of time together in the last 18 months, almost 24 months, and it's set us up really well to ride those waves and the emotions and the excitement of a new tournament and the pressure that comes with a World Cup,” Chancellor believes.
“But being here for two weeks in the lead-up to this first game has allowed us to have that feeling early, get those nerves out, get that tension and the stress that comes with the pressure of the place that we're in right now.
“I don't think you need to control it necessarily but as a team, it's just been about turning up, having fun, enjoying what we're doing and ultimately, that's when we play some of our best rugby, is when we're relaxed and calm and confident in what we're doing.”
This energy remains single-focused on Samoa and how to shut down their powerful pack, with forwards coach Sam Needs ready for anything the opposition throws at them.
“We know Samoa is going to provide a real physical challenge for us tomorrow,” he insists. “I think the two Tests against Wales really set us up for kind of like setting up our forward play, our scrum, our line-out and maul.
“Tomorrow, we're just ultimately trying to deliver a back-up performance of what we delivered against Wales and just keep going there.”
