A TOUCH rugby player from Redditch says she’s incredibly proud of her England team-mates after they secured bronze in the over 35s Touch World Cup.
Olivia Jones, who also plays for Redditch Queenfishers and Midland’s team Revolution Touch, was joint top -scorer in the competition.
Speaking on her World Cup accomplishments, the 41-year-old said: “We did really well to come third and came very close to beating the second favourites New Zealand.
“Luck just wasn’t on our side this time.”
The team registered a new England record for the ‘closest scoreline’ against New Zealand over the two games they faced them.
“In our second game we lost 3-1 but it was extremely close and it could have gone either way with England up 1-0 at half-time,” said Olivia.
The Touch World Cup, held in Malaysia, saw Australia crowned the eventual winners.
“Playing was very difficult at times,” said Olivia, “temperatures rose to as high as 52 degrees.
“But despite that, overall we had a lot of fun and I couldn’t be prouder of what we achieved.”
When the competition finished Olivia decided to carry on travelling with her sister Emma, who had flown out to support her.
“I’m so happy she came to see me play, it meant the world.”
The pair visited a few surrounding islands and Vietnam before finally flying home.
Olivia will now continue playing for her local teams, while hoping to be selected for the European Touch Championships next year.
“I’ve not been to the Euros before so I would love to go, but we will have to see.”
