Former England rugby captain Catherine Spencer has said how difficult it was to watch the Red Roses win the World Cup - something she never achieved when playing.

Spencer played for the England 63 times and played in the 2006 and 2010 World Cups but never managed to clinch the title.

She was a pundit and commentator for the 2014 tournament where England beat Canada 21-9 in the final to become world champions. Spencer has revealed in her autobiography that it set her back from healing the wounds of not winning the title in 2010.

“I found it really hard. Winning the World Cup was everything that I wanted to do and everything that I wanted to achieve.

“Between 2011, when I retired from playing, and 2014 I was still heavily involved in the game, working and still playing at club level, so going into that year I had real mixed emotions. I had started to deal with not winning in 2010 and then actually watching them win from my place in the studio set me back on my recovery. I found it very difficult."

She added that while World Rugby have removed the word 'Women's' from the title of Women's Rugby World Cup in a bid for equality, Spencer believes it should remain to show that women play rugby too.

"It should be the Men’s World Cup, and the Women’s World Cup. I think I’ve become a more ardent supporter of that now, probably when I was playing I would have been the other way. 

"Now I think it’s important to bring specific attention to our own tournament and there is that point of difference, the official branding that ‘Yes, we play too'!"