Rugby League World Cup: Vicky Molyneux shares her devastation following England Women's exit but hopes there can be a long-term positive impact

Craig Richards’ side were defeated 20-6 by New Zealand at York’s LNER Community Stadium.

Molyneux states the result is hard to take after the years of hard work that went into the tournament, but hopes there can be a long-term positive impact.

“I’m 34. I wanted to get this World Cup done, give it my all, then have a good rest before deciding what I want to do,” she said.

“If I’m not there I’ll be backing the girls all the way and I’ll be their biggest fan cheering in the stands.

“If I am, I’ll need a good rest to go again.

“To put in all that effort for years behind the scenes, with the sacrifice, to not have something at the end of it hurts right now.

“I think I need to repair my body physically, but also my heart because I’m absolutely devastated.

“The feeling is we couldn’t have done any more. Physically they were strong and they were big.

“In the first half it felt like they had all of the possession and we did really well to hold them out. We thought our fitness levels would come through.

“We worked hard for years for this, so we’re absolutely devastated.

“We’ve closed the gap because we were against a side with a lot of full time athletes.

“I’m one of the people who has a full time job in a school, so I’m up at five o’clock getting my gym sessions in.

“That’s not just me, that’s every girl in the squad. We’ve done that for five years now preparing for the World Cup, so that’s why we’re disappointed, we wanted something at the end of it and to get to the final.

“You can’t expect women to be working 12 hour days, doing sessions in the mornings and training at night.

“We need investment so girls can prioritise that a little bit more.

“You don’t want to turn up to training knackered or be sat in traffic after work.

“We’re that little margin off and it’s because of the time the paid girls can put into it.

“We had all those fans who made the effort to come out and see us, and we genuinely believed we could go all the way.

“We feel like we’ve done everything to play for the badge and we were going to battle for our country.

“The next group is going to be special, and can hopefully build on what we’ve set.

“I do believe this group of people can win this cup.

“The momentum and the support has been amazing, with all the young girls in particular asking us to sign their shirts.

“Hopefully something good will come on the back of this.

“Walking round the fans, they were saying: ‘You’ve done us proud.’

“If just one girl picks up a rugby ball because of this then we’ve done something special.

“It’s for those girls, who just perhaps doubt themselves and don’t think that they’re good enough, to have the courage and think they can do it.

“It’s worth the years of slog if that genuinely happens.”