Australia have been drawn in a mighty tough pool for next year’s Rugby World Cup but coach Jo Yapp still sees “a big opportunity” for the women in gold to make their mark. In Pool A, the Wallaroos will take on world number one England, the USA and Samoa.

Under coach Yapp, the Wallaroos appear to be building nicely leading into the World Cup, and they even have some silverware to show for their growth. Australia took out the WXV 2 title last weekend with a clinical 31-22 win over Scotland in Cape Town.

With that result, the Aussies brought their international campaign to a close with their third win on the bounce. Australia had lost six of their seven fixtures going into the World Rugby-run tournament, and that sole victory was a 64-5 demolition of Fiji in Sydney.

But, even when the going got tough, the Wallaroos seemed to maintain an almost unwavering sense of self-belief. The Aussies continued to show signs of genuine improvement throughout a tough 10-Test campaign, and they were rewarded in the end.

But, it doesn’t get any easier for them moving forward.

Australia have been drawn in a World Cup pool of death. England are currently on a 20-Test unbeaten streak, the USA beat the Wallaroos in the Pacific Four Series, and Samoa recently beat an Australia A side. But, it’s not all doom and gloom.

“It is a tough but one that’s got loads of opportunities and that we’re pretty excited about,” coach Yapp told reporters on Friday.

“It’s exciting to be playing England and to be playing a home nation in their home World Cup, I think that’s really exciting. We know that the crowds over in England are going to be huge and it’s going to be the biggest World Cup yet. All of that just adds to the excitement.

“That Pac Four was tough for us, wasn’t it, and we had such little prep going into that. So, as a squad we’ve changed a lot over the last 10 months… we’ve got another 10 months now until the World Cup so as long as we keep the growth going like we are, we’re a pretty different team now than what we were 10 months ago.

“… If we end up with England in the opening game, that’s huge, isn’t it? Opening a World Cup and an opportunity to play the home nation, the number one team, there’s going to be a lot of pressure on them and that’s a big opportunity for us.”

The Wallaroos started their new era under coach Yapp with a 33-14 loss to eventual Pacific Four Series champions Canada in Sydney. They were beaten by the USA 32-25 less than a week later in Melbourne, and rounded out that campaign with a heavy 67-19 loss in New Zealand.

While the Aussies were able to bounce back with a massive win over Fijiana at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium, more pain followed. New Zealand, Ireland and Wales recorded wins, but the Australians rallied in WXV 2.

With wins over Wales, South Africa and Scotland, the Wallaroos were rightfully joyous about their success in the competition. The other WXV competitions also offered up some intriguing results ahead of the World Cup, including England’s run to yet another title in Vancouver.

“I think that’s what’s so exciting about this World Cup… looking at all the WXV results through one, two and three, this is going to be the most competitive World Cup there’s ever been,” Yapp explained.

“Some of those results that have come through over the last month have just made this World Cup such an exciting one.

“I think whatever one we ended up in was gonna be a tough one. There’s no easy pools anymore.”