Women's Rugby World Cup: England ready to win - Alphonsi

Alphonsi is playing in her third World Cup

England flanker Maggie Alphonsi says the "pain" of three final defeats in a row will help drive them to World Cup glory in France.

England have lifted the trophy once, in 1994, but have lost the past three finals to New Zealand.

The Red Roses have made 12 changes for their second Pool A match, against Spain on Tuesday.

Alphonsi said morale was high, telling BBC Sport: "I'm very confident that we are ready to win the World Cup."

The 2014 tournament started on Friday, with the Red Roses thrashing Samoa 65-3 in their opening game.

Alphonsi, 30, added: "I was part of the team in 2006 when we played in Canada and got to the final, and we lost against New Zealand. That was quite frustrating.

"And then in 2010, being the home nation with all that crowd and losing again. Me and a few of the other players are living off of that pain, determined not to go through that again.

"The aim of the World Cup is to perform well but also make a statement to the rest of the world that you're here, ready to play and ready to win the World Cup.

"I think the first game proved that and now we've got to step it up another level."

England - who have reached five of the six World Cup finals to date - are expected to comfortably win on Tuesday, but Alphonsi warned Spain "will be another challenge".

"We're aware that to play well, we've got to play our own game," she added.

Meanwhile, Wales will be hoping to get their tournament back on track when they take on Australia after an opening-day defeat by hosts France.

Centre Rebecca De Filippo, playing in her first World Cup, said Wales "need to go out and embrace the experience".

"You get what you prepare for and the girls have been training really hard for the past three years," she told BBC Sport.

"Even though we lost to France there were a lot of positives to come out of that game and, as long as we perform and do what we do best, then we've got the edge."

Ireland face defending champions New Zealand on Tuesday, but captain Fiona Coghlan insists her players will not be overawed.

"It's the only team ranked above us that we haven't played before so we're looking forward to playing the world champions," she told BBC Sport.

"They are a super team and we will respect them but we won't be afraid of them."