On this day: ‘We were better than them but they were relentless’

It might now be 29 years since the USA won the first women’s Rugby World Cup final in Cardiff but there remains a sense of ‘what might have been’ among England’s class of 1991.

Fresh from victory over France in the semi-finals, England had taken a 16th-minute lead at Cardiff Arms Park on 14 April, 1991, courtesy of a penalty try conceded by USA back-row Claire Godwin and converted by Gill Burns.

But by the admission of those present, the USA proved too strong, and streetwise, for their English opponents.

A second-half brace of tries from Godwin and a late score from scrum-half Patty Connell wrapped up a 19-6 victory for a team whose spine remained from the invincible Wiverns tour of the UK and France in 1985.

“Looking back we gave them opportunities,” number eight Burns recalled. “We should have been able to win that game.

“We were better than them really but they just kept going, they were relentless and [had a] sharpness of thought.”
Alongside England vice-captain Carol Isherwood and Saracens flanker Janis Ross, Burns was pitched into an intense battle with USA back-row trio Godwin, Morgan Whitehead and Kathy Flores.

For Isherwood, the nature of Godwin’s second try summed up the difference in sharpness between the two sides on the day.

It arrived when the USA took a quick lineout and the unmarked back-row “delightedly collected the ball and went through unopposed,” according to Western Mail reporter David Roberts.