Feaunati 'super privileged to be part of RWC win'

Maddie Feaunati was the only Exeter player to make the England 23 for the World Cup final

"I remember saying to someone 'I'm not going to be involved in the next World Cup, so what have I got to lose? Then next minute I'm in it and we won it."

Maddie Feaunati's route to World Cup glory with England has not been the most straightforward. Two years ago she had just arrived at Exeter, returning to the country of her birth after growing up in New Zealand.

The 23-year-old has gone on to become one of England's leading back-row players and came on to help the Red Roses win last Saturday's World Cup final against Canada at a sold-out Twickenham.

"I just wanted to do everything to get on the team sheet, full stop," she tells BBC Spotlight as she proudly displays her gold medal around her neck.

"Through different tournaments I've played different roles; I've started games, I've played throughout the whole of the back row.

"To get on the bench (in the final), I guess it's like a privilege because I got to be that impact player that got to cover all three positions and I was trusted with that.

"So for me, I was super privileged to be a part of that and I guess that you can't take that away from anybody."

Rugby has always been a big part of Feaunati's life.

She was born in England while her father Isaac was playing for Leeds and grew up in Bath when Isaac spent five years with the West Country outfit from 2003 to 2008..

When Isaac retired he returned to New Zealand - his birthplace, despite representing Samoa internationally - and Maddie grew up in Wellington from the age of nine.

Despite spending more of her life in the southern hemisphere, Feaunati said she only ever wanted to wear the red rose.

"Living in England was all about rugby and Dad and his mates - obviously he played professional rugby and living in England was rugby, so I guess I always associated England with rugby.

"When we went to New Zealand no-one was playing rugby and you're just this kid that's got this British accent that's just popped up and doesn't know anything about the culture.

"There was nothing that I felt super connected to, and I guess over the years I got to learn about that and I'm grateful for that experience and got to be a part of their culture and I guess also my family's culture and be around them.

"But it was weird, it was like England rugby, so it was a weird one to navigate. But it's always been my goal and I've been very clear about that."

England's World Cup win extended their unbeaten record to 33 games, that stretches back to defeat in the last World Cup final

The World Cup win saw a record crowd of more than 81,000 attend the final at Twickenham with millions more watching on television.

It brought the women's game to a whole new audience and Feaunati hopes that it will filter through to the domestic game in England as Exeter prepare for the start of the Premiership Women's Rugby season at the end of this month.

"Fill the seats, but fill the seats because you want to be here and you want to enjoy rugby," she says.

"The men, I'm pretty sure they sell out pretty much all their games, because you want to watch rugby and you want to support a club.

"It is no different with the women's game and you probably get some more exciting rugby because we're still developing our game and we're learning how women's rugby works for us.

"Even if it's you signing up to a rugby club and getting involved or joining a supporters club, I think it means a lot to everybody."

Maddie Feaunati has played 20 times for Exeter since joining the club from Wellington Pride in October 2023

And what about Exeter's prospects for the forthcoming season?

The Chiefs finished fifth in Premiership Women's Rugby last season, missing out on a place in the top four play-offs for the first time in three campaigns.

As well as Feaunati, Exeter also had Claudia Moloney-MacDonald in the England World Cup squad while beaten finalists Canada had five Chiefs in their party.

Along with a number of other internationals and a host of promising young players coming through, Feaunati is hopeful Exeter can return to the top four this season.

"We've got girls that played almost for every single country in the World Cup coming back with their experience and I'm sure they all got a lot from the World Cup in their own sense," she says.

"Then we've got a bunch of young girls coming through. They're a different breed this lot because they've grown up playing rugby.

"Most of us, we all played other sports and then we we got involved in rugby and all our other sports helped rugby.

"But these girls have played touch since they were younger, they got involved in rugby clubs since they've been five years old and we're seeing that impact that it's having on them now because with these university girls that come to training, I'm like 'I've got to stay on top of my game'.

"So keep supporting us because it's great that we've got a women's team here, but it means nothing without support, so you've just got to keep giving everything to us."