Red Roses star Hannah Botterman: ‘I don’t want to be shy about the fact that I want to be the best loosehead prop in the world’

It is the familiar plight of the prop – no matter how excellent you are individually, no matter how stable the set-piece platform you set, in sweep the backs with the flashier flicks and tricks to steal the praise and plaudits. It’s just gone eleven o’clock in Sunderland and Hannah Botterman is lamenting the lack of love she and Maud Muir have received in the wake of the Red Roses thrashing of the United States. “Obviously the commentators love Ellie Kildunne, so…” the loosehead moans, only half in jest, after another Player of the Match award ended up in the full-back’s hands.

Not even the news that Kildunne sought to spotlight the impact of the forwards in her post-match utterings provides much solace. “That’s because I told her to!” Botterman chuckles.

“It’s an ongoing joke. I think it was the Six Nations last year where the front row joked of her robbing us of a couple of Player of the Matches. She’s obviously a serious talent and she does things that no-one else can do. If our scrum platform and maul platform can give her the space to be able to perform like she does, then who cares, quite frankly.”

Certainly there is no shortage of mutual appreciation in a squad that suggest they are more tightly bound than ever before. Kildunne, Meg Jones and the rest of England’s backline certainly thrived in the space afforded to them by the USA in Sunderland – but the game, as so often, was won on the gainline and at the set-piece. “The scrum buried the USA,” head coach John Mitchell beamed afterwards, after earlier describing Botterman as a “special player”.

If you ask the prop herself, though, she will tell you that she is not yet special enough. Botterman showed her best in Sunderland, her symbiotic relationship with a close-to-capacity crowd clear as she fed off their energy and the supporters responded to hers. Seven sizeable carries saw the loosehead beat four defenders and snare a score; two crucial breakdown turnovers displayed her jackalling prowess, long a calling card of the prop’s game and all the more important in an England starting side that no longer includes Marlie Packer.

It is eight years since a teenage Botterman made her international debut, but it is only now that she really feels she is coming of age. “I’ve worked really hard over the offseason to get into some decent shape. I don’t want to be shy about the fact that I want to be the best loosehead prop in the world,” she stresses. “I want to cement that this tournament.

“I don’t want it to be questioned, if I’m honest. I think I am within the conversation and now I just want to push on and keep improving. Everyone can improve everywhere but for a long time, my scrummaging wasn’t the best. I’ve really worked on that and I think that is an area of strength now. Attacking wise, I’m happy; defensively I think I can be a bit stronger and chuck my weight around a bit more. I feel physically in a really good spot, now it’s just about putting the performances out there.”

It did not go unnoticed that Botterman outshined opposite number Hope Rogers, another who might have designs on being recognised in top spot in the propping pecking order, in England’s one-sided win. Her set-piece improvements have been key in solidifying the left side of the Red Roses’ scrum since the retirement of Vickii Cornborough – the influence of Nathan Catt, the side’s specialist coach in that area, has been hugely helpful, as have the long days in the gym and on the training park.

“You always want to be the best in your position,” Botterman emphasises. “I think before, for me, I didn’t feel as if I was physically capable to do that. Whereas now, I’ve put myself in a physically-capable spot. It’s just whether I can produce what I want to produce. The desire has always been there but I feel like I am able to do a bit more now and hopefully that has shown on the pitch.”

Botterman comes from good rugby stock – aunt Jane Everett was an England international, uncle Gregg Botterman a Saracens stalwart – but endured challenges in her early career. Now diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the prop lost her love of the game while away from home at Hartpury College, working as a painter/decorator and at a Harvester before really flourishing with England to earn a professional contract.

Her importance as an energetic presence within the squad is significant off the pitch as well as on it as England relish a home World Cup. “I’m a big kid and get in a little bit too much trouble to be a senior player,” she jokes. “I’m nearing 60 [caps] now and that doesn’t really feel quite right, it’s weird.

“We are really fortunate to be in the position that we are now. Seeing all the people who have come before us and really worked to put us in this position, we obviously benefit from that now, but if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be here. We’ve just sort of got to soak it up now.”