Dread and buried: England refuse to revisit Loss Vegas

In any list of words likely to be uttered in the England camp this week in the build-up to their clash with the Jillaroos, “Las” and “Vegas” are near the bottom.

“It’s not banned - but we’ve done all our learning from Vegas now,” England coach Stuart Barrow said after his side’s tournament-opening 70-6 win over Wales at this Saturday’s venue, HBF Park.

“It’s buried, it’s in the past. It’s so long ago and this is a different group, a new group and we’re ready to go with our challenge now, this group’s challenge.

“The 23 in the room there, they’ve got outstanding attitudes. To leave five people out of this team was tough so we’ve got a really good healthy squad and it’s their challenge now to deal with Australia next week.”

Of course, Sin City was the site of the last match between these two sides - and it was an lopsided 90-4 win for the Australians at Allegiant Stadium in 2025.

England have come a fair way since then - heritage players Jasmin Strange and Hope Millard were part of Saturday’s team and debutant Connie Boyd bagged a hat-trick - but we won’t find out how far until the teams take the field in the headline time slot this weekend.

“We watched them (against) Samoa but to be honest I watched them with only half an eye because I was all about today, we were all about today as a group,” said Barrow in relation to the World Cup holders.

“It was on in the background while we were in the team room, eating and just having chats with each other. 

“We know what a class side the world champions are and we’ve been on the wrong end of it not too long ago. Yes, there’s lots of work to do this week but I think the girls are looking forward to the challenge of it.”

Isabel Rowe equalled the England record for points in a match with 26, saying the addition of heritage players had been positive.

“They’ve brought that little bit of experience - obviously they know what the competition is like over here,” she said.

"There’s a lot of young girls in the squad as well and they’ve brought that experience and knowledge and they’ve really helped boost us and improve our confidence.

“At the end of the day, it’s rugby field with sticks and you’re playing with your best mates. It can’t really get much better.

“I’ve watched the (NRLW) for several years now and I’ve looked up to those players for many years.”

Wales coach Tom Brindle and captain Bethan Dainton, meanwhile, remained upbeat with the Dragons scoring their first World Cup try nine minutes into the match.

It’s an achievement to have qualified says Dainton, adding: “No-one can take that away from us, regardless of the score.

“We’ve made history. We deserve to be here. We qualified to get here. 

“We looked really good in parts. Definitely, we deserve to be on this stage.”