England centre Meg Jones has labelled the side’s Women’s Rugby World Cup final victory as “surreal”, revealing to Sky Sports her journey from the “worst year of my life” to a mammoth day personally at Twickenham. 

Speaking to Sky Sports’ Eleanor Roper post the Red Roses’ 33-13 World Cup final victory over Canada, Jones shared her moving story of grief and determination.

“It feels surreal to be honest. I think everyone would probably say that,” she said.

“It’s just a huge moment for me. Obviously losing my mum and dad last year was probably the worst year of my life. Then the fact I just held on to a little bit of hope and held on to the fact that this is my purpose, this is my drive.

“I wanted the girls to see that as well. I didn’t want them to think just because you have a bit of adversity and a bit of a downfall there that you’ve got to hide. You just, lead with it.

“Be sad, be happy. Grief’s a weird thing. I think if you can lead with that sometimes it shows and it comes out on the other end.

“The World Cup was huge for me and I know mum and dad will be very proud.”

Jones’ performances for England in 2025 have been sensational, bringing with them a nomination for World Player of the Year.

The 28-year-old paid tribute to her England team-mates for their support after the death of both her parents.

“Honestly, they galvanised around me really well. Offering me enough space, offering me support, looking after me when I needed it,” Jones adds.

“But they also bought into what I was about and I think that was the most beautiful thing: when people really see that I’m just here to play rugby.

“I want to win. I want to inspire the person next to me, not just myself. That was more beautiful than them looking after me.

“It’s huge. I love this team massively and I’d do anything for them. I’d run through brick walls, I’d go through the trenches with them. Hopefully that was shown through our defensive sets.

“One of our key messages was for the girls: FTG. Yes, for the girls, but yes, for the boys and for people like yourselves. It doesn’t have to just be children, it can be adults.

“We want to inspire people to chase their dreams, go after it, don’t be shy. Be bold, be brave and be you.

“Particularly women’s sport now is on the up, and we want to just keep that momentum going into the next few years.

“We lead with love, compassion and empathy and those things are leadership qualities and we want to show people that that’s beautiful as well.”

Kildunne: A once in a lifetime – we treated it so differently to last World Cup final

England star Ellie Kildunne told Sky Sports at Twickenham:

“It’s pretty mad. It’s something that you can never imagine.

“You wouldn’t have been able to imagine what happened today. What that feeling is when you walk out at Allianz Stadium, when you get off the bus and you’re looking around the cylinder stairways and everyone’s hanging off of it, shouting for you to come in.

“That’s something that you’ve got to be in that moment. You can’t imagine it. You can’t expect it. It’s very, very special.

“It’s one of those ones I’m going to be pinching myself for the next few weeks, months, years, whatever it is.

“It’s been cool that I’ve had an opportunity to get my brand out there, that people have seen that opportunity as well. And the same for the other girls. It’s not just the Red Roses.

“In terms of pressure, it’s one of those things. When you’re a good team, there’s always going to be pressure. People are always going to expect you to do well because you’ve done well in every other game that we’ve played.

“But I think as a team, we’ve worked very hard to stay very tight as a unit, making sure the external noise doesn’t get in. So this week hasn’t felt any different to any other week. That’s the thing that’s been so different to the last World Cup.

“The last World Cup was like: ‘This is the final.’ This World Cup, nothing changed. Every week you just take it as it comes. We’ve worked on that culture. We’ve worked on that as a group.

“It’s once in a lifetime. It feels like the right time for it to happen, the right moment. It’s definitely something that people are going to write books about. I love everybody that’s been involved in this World Cup.”