Amy Hardcastle compared the experience to being in a washing machine. Jodie Cunningham said it was evidence of the work English women’s rugby league still has to do.
England’s experience in Las Vegas could hardly have been more chastening. A 90-4 defeat by Australia was the biggest the Lionesses – either as England or Great Britain – have ever suffered.
Both captain Cunningham and centre Hardcastle, interviewed on the pitch moments after a shattering result, were quick to pinpoint the reasons for it: they couldn’t get enough of the ball, and so ended up spending much of the 70 minutes trying to defend against the best team in the world.
How to use that as a learning experience to avoid a repeat is a tougher question – and one that goes to the heart of the structure of women’s rugby league in England.
The effort from Stuart Barrow’s team never wavered, even as hopes of running their opponents close were shredded. The fact they scored the final try of the match, having conceded 17 before that, spoke volumes of their capacity to keep going.
That, in itself, required huge reserves of character.
“I think we know what we need to do when we go back home,” Hardcastle said. “You can’t take anything away from the Jillaroos.
“They’re absolute athletes and what they get to do in Australia, and how professional they are, and the backing that they get is incredible. And to face them at a top level, it’s a privilege to be here.
“We’ve lost, but to be able to be here and give it a go and know what it’s like in that battle, in that washing machine, it’s been worth that 70 minutes.”
The size of the defeat clearly hurt.
“There are always positives to take,” Cunningham said. “Right now, it’s tough to focus on them, but I think the heart was there, the effort was there, we didn’t give up.
“I think Georgia Roche getting a try for us right at the end shows that we didn’t give up. The effort was there. It was just that they were too good for us.
“But I’m proud of the girls. I’m proud of how they kept going and sometimes that’s what you’ve got to take at international rugby.”
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