Rugby World Cup: Women's trophy found after being missing for 15 years

Have you ever lost something and thought I wonder where it's gone?

Well, the women's Rugby World Cup trophy has been missing for 15 years - but now it has just been found!

The trophy was won by England in 1994 and subsequently went on tour, roadshows and was even displayed in a museum, before going missing and was presumed lost.

Now, a former admin worker from England rugby was clearing out her parents loft and found some old notebooks, posters and you guessed it, the World Cup trophy itself!

Gill Burns was part of the team that won the World Cup in 1994 and has now been reunited with the missing trophy

The trophy was from the first ever women's Rugby World Cup - won by America in 1991 and then England in 1994.

Gill Burns was a player for the England team in 1994. After winning the cup and it being taken on tour, it then hadn't been seen for a while and the team started to wonder where it had gone.

"It was in the museum briefly before it went back out on tour again and then a few years later we started asking 'does anyone know where the World Cup is?', and nobody knew where it was," she said.

Gill, who played for England between 1988 and 2002, was worried it had been "melted down somewhere" and has been "searching for it for a while'.

Gill Burns with the trophy

Current England captain, Sarah Hunter, said: "I knew it had gone missing, I knew that Gill Burns had tried to find it but I hadn't realised it had been found. To hear the story of how it was found and where it was is pretty unique.

"I'm really pleased that they've managed to get their hands on it, because I can imagine that day winning the World Cup was so special, to have that trophy go missing must have been pretty sad for that so to have it back must have been pretty special for them."

Gill spoke about how it felt to have finally found the trophy: "It's very emotional to find the trophy that we were lucky enough to lift in 1994 and absolutely delighted that we are taking it back to Twickenham to be stored carefully at the World Rugby museum there and be on display for all to see there."

England lifted the World Cup trophy in 2014 and were runners-up in 2017

The next Rugby World Cup is due to take place in 2022 in New Zealand. Back in 2019 it was announced by World Rugby, the body in charge of the sport, that the next women's Rugby world Cup will be called The Rugby World Cup.

It removed the gender reference from the tournament title which they said was the "ultimate statement in equality".

World Rugby is the first major sports federation to get rid of gender from the competition title.

England's Rugby Football Union (RFU) also hope to bid to host the 2025 World Cup.

England last hosted the Rugby World Cup in 2010 and won it in 2014 and since then women's rugby has grown with female participation in England growing from 13,000 to 40,000 registered players in clubs.

The RFU's plan involves hosting the best-attended women's Rugby World Cup ever.

England are currently the top-ranked team in the world.