Zoe sets sights on cup glory
World Player of the Year Zoe Aldcroft reckons the Red Roses can replicate the success of England's Lionesses and cap a stunning year of women’s sport with a memorable World Cup triumph.
After the support seen across the country during England's historic Euro 2022 victory, the Scarborough-born secondrowisconfidentthenation's women's rugby stars will feel just as much love when they venture to New Zealand to contest the sport’s ultimate prize.
Before their opening fixture against Fiji on October 8, Aldcroft and co will have one lastchancetoimpressonhome soil with warm-up fixtures against USA and Wales, at Exeter and Bristol respectively.
“I think it's really great that they’re in two different spots,” said Aldcroft.
“To get the crowd down at Exeter, which has been amazing in the past and then a new place where we've never been before in Bristol, we’re hoping we can expand our support network leading up to New Zealand and hopefully they’ll be excited by those games and then support us.
“I think as a nation, we're very good at getting behind
oursportsteamsandreallyencouragingourplayers.Thebetter they do, the more support they get. The support behind the Lionesses was absolutely amazing and hopefully we can get that support for the Red Roses out in New Zealand.”
“Every time a little girl comes up I think, why do you want a photo with me? I’m just
a normal person,” joked Aldcroft.
“A few people have said we’re trailblazers at the moment because we are at this stage where it's just growing so rapidly.
“And the amount of young girls that we see in the crowd too, it's amazing to think that they're aspiring to be like us
one day. Hopefully they're going away to their rugby clubs saying, ‘I want to be like that player.’
“And they can see it, which is something that I didn't have when I was growing up.
“It's just amazing to be a part of this transformation.”
England Rugby’s women’s team, the Red Roses, will be
playing their final warm-up game against Wales at Ashton Gate, Bristol, on 14th September 2022 before travelling to New Zealand. Be part of the action and bag discounted Category 1 tickets with O2 Priority. For more information on O2’s partnership, visit https://www.englandrugby.com/ about-rfu/rfu-partners/o2.