women
international women
Record-breaking Wallaroos wing Desiree Miller believes the Aussies can come into their own WXV Global Series opener vs England with a nothing-to-lose mentality as they look to topple the “gold standard” side in girls’ under-15 rugby.
England were defeated in the 2022 Women’s competition Rugby World Cup Final vs New Zealand at Eden Park, but have remained unbeaten since then. The Red Roses flew home to win the World Cup on home soil last year, and they backed that up even more Six Nations success.
Meanwhile, the Wallaroos are looking to bounce back from a rather one-sided loss to the Black Ferns in Auckland last month. But after a long trip to the UK, with some big name returns in the squad, the Wallaroos are chasing what would be a huge result.
The Wallaroos kicked off their 2025 World Cup campaign at Manchester’s CorpAcq Stadium and will soon take to the pitch again at the venue. Incredibly, the Red Roses have never played at this stadium, with relatively recent home games played in London or Bristol.
England overwhelmed the Australians during their run to the World Cup title, but it wasn’t easy with the Women in Gold leading after about 30 minutes at Bright & Hove Albion FC Stadium. But the Red Roses fought their way back, much to the delight of the loud English crowd.
“We’ve already been thinking about the game a little bit and those first 30 minutes were definitely positive. I think it just gives us a little bit of confidence that it’s doable,” Miller told reporters.
“They are a force and the gold standard for women’s under-15s at the moment, they haven’t lost since the (2022) World Cup. While it’s a great achievement, it’s also a lot of pressure on them.”
“We’ve got nothing to lose and with the preparation we’ve done, the review we’ve done, there’s a lot of tools we can use to pick their game apart. I think it’s just a question, it’s a cliché, but to do it together and do it for 80 minutes.
“I’m really confident in what we have prepared and I think if we can do it together, it will give a really positive result.”
Australia have already played five internationals this season but the campaign has been split into blocks either side of Super Rugby Women’s. The Pacific Four Series it was held for a number of consecutive weeks earlier this year, before the Wallaroos players split to their respective clubs.
The NSW Waratahs secured another treble before losing the championship final to Super Rugby Aupiki champion of the Blues. It was a thriller at the Leichhardt Oval in Sydney, and the guests celebrated on the road with a score of 24-17.
Three weeks later, many of those Waratahs and Blues players were preparing for their national teams, and the Black Ferns cruised to a big win. But as Miller reflected, it was a result that lit the fire before the Wallaroos return to the Test arena.
“It’s definitely a new environment, a new calendar … it was a change and a lot of expectations to just step up and perform without Super prep under our belts,” Miller said.
“It was great to leave, we had work from the Pac Four … and then we came together as a group so we know we’ve done that work there and we can come in and focus as a whole team of 32 women. That in turn will help move us forward in terms of how we want to play as a team and our identity.
“New Zealand were unfortunate. I think we were all pretty disappointed with how we performed on the day … we’ve got a lot of fuel in the fire to go out and put it right and do better, not just for ourselves but for the Wallaroos and how we want to represent ourselves.”
