BY HENRY

On Saturday September 27, my family and I made the journey across London to Twickenham, the home of England rugby union, to watch the Women’s Rugby World Cup final. After a fiercely competitive tournament, it all came down to a final match between the world number one team England versus a very determined Canadian team.

When we arrived we could hear the cheers and drums of New Zealand against France to determine who would finish third and fourth. As soon as that match finished we were ready to see England and Canada enter the stadium, and I was high fived twice on my left hand by England players.

After getting some food and soaking up the atmosphere, we took our seats.

Within the first few minutes Canada scored a try, and I was crying with my head in my hands. Thankfully Ellie Kildunne navigated her way through the defensive line and scored the best try I’ve ever seen in my career of watching rugby. It was a close match with some tense moments that really got my heart pumping.

When the final whistle blew we were jumping for joy as England’s Red Roses won 33 points to 13. We watched them lift the Rugby World Cup trophy after seeing “ENGLAND” being engraved on it.

Everyone, including us, was singing and dancing because we were all so happy. It was also really cool to find out that we were part of the biggest ever crowd at a women’s rugby match which is a whopping 81,885 (we like to think we were the five!).

I hope more women and girls will start playing rugby, inspired by the incredible achievements of England’s Red Roses. It’s a great team game that people of all shapes and sizes can play, and learn “TREDS” – the core values of rugby:

Teamwork
Respect
Enjoyment
Discipline
Sportsmanship

If you have been inspired to play rugby, check out your local rugby club. I play for Old Alleynians RFC and Brixton Bulls RLFC!!