Only two players have been able to cross the white chalk against current tournament favourites England - and Wallaroo Adiana Talakai is one of them.
The hooker enjoyed a strong performance, and despite the English showing their class and running away in the second half, it took a while for the hosts to crack the women in gold.
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Scoring a try prompted the 19-capped Wallaroo to pay tribute to a surprise inspiration.
“[Scoring the try], that was pretty good,” Talakai laughed with reporters post-match.
“That was like, a bit of a highlight moment.
“I was under the weight of all the girls and then in that moment I was like, I just got a try… like, against England! This is crazy. I can't believe I did that.
“[On her celebration], when in England, have a tea. So I was just having a tea. It's a different sport, but Alex Morgan did that. American footballer, years ago at the Football World Cup.”
The Wallaroos led for the first half hour of the clash, with the underdogs opening in an eerily similar fashion to the head start the side got against the Black Ferns back in 2021.
Despite playing in front of 30,000 fans heavily favouring the hosts, it was an experience Talakai relished.
“I hear the crowd when I want to hear the crowd,” Talakai explained.
“But then other than that, in the game, phases of play, I'm really trying to tune in to the girls because I have to cut the crowd out.
“One thing that I do notice about the crowd that gives me a bit more hype is the silence of a home crowd and I spoke to the girls and to some of our coaches and some of the players.
“One thing that gets me going is you're playing in a stadium against the home team of a World Cup. It's not the first time I've done this, but I had a feeling of silence in my first World Cup against the Black Ferns.
“I wanted that feeling again because it felt like an exhilarating moment. Our team just silenced this whole entire crowd of 30,000 people. It's pretty cool.”
Despite the first half performance, the hosts eventually ran away with four tries in the second half. Even so, Talakai wasn’t intimidated by the hosts.
“I think it was just the mentality that we know that England is a top tier team,” she replied when asked about the Wallaroos’ approach to the match.
“They're first in the world at the moment. A lot of the games that they've played, their opponents that they've played against, I felt like maybe their opponents have given them a bit too much respect.
“I'm not saying go out there and disrespect the game and the team.
“I'm saying [others] put them a bit too much on a pedestal. They're human just as much as we are. Our mentality going into this game is just throw the first punch, take the fight to them. Don't let them come here.
“We can't have that weather the storm mentality. We have to beat up that storm.
“I have nothing to lose. This is team number one. There's nothing for me to lose.”
The Wallaroos now enter the knockout stage of the tournament, and will have a tough assignment facing world number two, Canada, whom they lost to 45-7 during the Pacific Four Series earlier in the year.
However, Talakai will be aiming to follow Jo Yapp’s request for a complete performance, with the Wallaroos having previously pushed the Canadian side on several occasions.
“There were some things that we could be proud of, proud about,” she added.
“I think we did our bit, but we just need to be better at that… [not just] just throwing that first punch, [but] keeping them there.
“I think we had them [England] worried a little bit, and then I think the game just got away from us after that.
“One step at a time.”
