The Red Roses' 2003 Vancouver Voyage
On Sunday the Red Roses will take on Canada in their hunt for a second successive WXV title in a true winner-takes-all game.
The game will take place in the city of Vancouver, somewhere the two sides have not faced each other in over 20 years.
The last time Canada hosted the Red Roses in Vancouver was 2003 for the Churchill Cup, a tournament that England legends Rocky Clark, Maxine Edwards and Georgia Stevens all played in.
For Rocky, it was the tournament in which she made her debut for England and as a 22-year-old playing for Henley Rugby Club suddenly found herself rubbing shoulders with her heroes.
“There were no other internationals in the Henley team at that time, so I was playing against them week in week out and then I was on a plane with them,” she said.
“They were my role models, and I really couldn't believe it. We were in a minibus, and I looked around and there were people like Georgia Stevens, Paula George, Susie Appleby.
“I had pictures of these guys on my wall, and I was sat with them in the van, it was just a surreal, amazing, incredible experience.”
A link to the men's side
The tournament in Vancouver was played at the same time as the men’s teams and the two teams were in the same hotel together.
It was the first time Maxine remembers there being a link to the men’s side, and it was an eye-opening experience of the differences between the two setups.
She said: “We were talking to them, and they mentioned a bootman and we said ‘oh sorry a what? What do you mean you've got a bootman?’
“It was just absolutely ridiculous the difference, because we'd come so far in terms of the support that we had.
“We'd had lottery funding and some of us were fortunate enough to get support for physio to help with recovery, but when you look at what the men had in terms of their support, it was immense.”
Maxine also recalls a helpful conversation about strapping with one of the men’s physios, having had a recurring ankle issue.
“They just said, ‘why are you even debating strapping it up? Just strap it, that’s part of the preparation.’ So that was something really good to take away from them.”
Children in camp
Another member of the touring party was Maxine’s young son Sean, who came with the team as Maxine was a single parent and being away for multiple weeks would have been too much.
Sean used to come along to training sessions if it was appropriate and got on with the team really well.
Maxine explained: “I would leave him with somebody and I go for physio, and then I'd come back and he's got his rucksack on and he's going off down the corridor with Selena Rudge.
“I'd say ‘where are you going?’ and he’d reply ‘I'm going with Selena’ or ‘I'm going with Shelley Ray’.
“He absolutely loved it and I think it was great for him to see some of the sights, not that kids always remember, but they remember some bits and the people.”
The current Red Roses squad does not shirk the fact that children might end up in and around the squad.
Lock Abbie Ward and attack coach Lou Meadows have all brought their children into camp, and Maxine thinks this is such a positive.
“It’s that normalisation, because we are women, we may well have children and having had children, we may well want to come back and play.
“So it’s about what is in place to enable that to happen, and it's good that that is now being formalised because now these women are professional, this is their job.”
A tough opponent
With the current crop of Red Roses preparing to face a Canada side that has won all their games in WXV this year, all three players remember how difficult an opponent they can be.
Rocky said: “They have always given us tough games and have always been very athletic, very physical. You have to be at your absolute best to win those games.”
While Maxine thinks that the team was slightly shocked by how strong Canada were in 2003, having won games relatively comfortably in the Six Nations.
“They were highly skilled, incredibly tough and they were not going to give you an inch,” she explained.
“They looked for any opportunity that they can to win a ruck, win a lineout, win a maul, take you down with the ball, any small victory.”
After beating the USA in their second game, the Red Roses of 2003 faced the Canadians again in a final.
Despite the challenges posed by the hosts, England triumphed 18-21 and come Sunday the Red Roses will be hoping for a similar result to match their 2003 counterparts.
