Amy Cokayne interview: “I just really struggle to find the pride”
Returning home following the heartbreak of losing to New Zealand in the World Cup Final, Red Roses hooker Amy Cokayne’s mind was far away from the rugby field. Instead, her attention shifted to Hungry Hungry Hippos.
“Initially when I came back, I went to Wales. My partners Welsh, so we went and saw nieces and stuff like that”, Cokayne said.
“It was more just Aunty Amy playing Hungry Hippos, which was actually quite refreshing and nice.
“Yeh, the three-year-old wasn’t asking me what it was like to lose a World Cup final.”
Falling at the last hurdle is always devastating, however the script for the 2021 Final between England and New Zealand could not have been any more excruciating for Cokayne and her teammates.
The final score was 34-31 to New Zealand, just three points separating the sides despite the Red Roses being a player down for three-quarters of the game. Winger Lydia Thompson was shown a red card for a high tackle on Black Fern’s Portia Woodman after England had built a 14-0 lead inside 14 minutes.
This was the second Final that Cokayne and the Red Roses had lost on the bounce following their 41-32 loss in Ireland in 2017, also against the Black Ferns. The result also brought an end to their world record 30-game winning streak, a record that is likely never to be beaten
Yet despite all these intersecting agonies, Cokayne has managed to rationalise the defeat in her mind with commendable concision.
She said: “I just tried to leave it. It’s happened now, you can’t change it, so I try not to think about it too much.
While giving very little away with her words, Cokayne was resolute in her tone as she spoke. Perhaps it was her RAF stoicism shining through, but there was a sense she had started to come to terms with the result.
The same can be said when it comes to the red card too. While Thompson’s sending off has been framed as the sole reason for England’s downfall, Cokayne was adamant the story was not that straightforward.
She said: “We are all human, we all make mistakes. If you wanted to nit-pick it there’s probably a couple of things that led to [the red card] happening.”
“[Thompson] was just devastated. You couldn’t look at her – you know when somebody’s crying so much its makes you cry?
“We had to reassure her that it wasn’t her that lost the game, which it definitely wasn’t. We still had it in our power to win that game.
“I think from my point of view the biggest loss was losing Zoe Aldcroft. She’s such an amazing player, such a workhorse, when you go down to 14 people she’s the kind of player you want on the pitch. So to have lost her in the first half was a huge loss.”
“At the end of the day we all knew we could still win that game no matter what, and we were in the position to do so. It was unfortunate it was down to that final lineout; nine times out of ten we scored those.”
Cokayne’s defence of Thompson is expected, and it seems to be a case of two things being true at the same time. The Red Roses’ dominance in that opening quarter was clearly affected by her sending off, but Cokayne is also right that, had they taken that final lineout cleanly, they had a very good chance of winning.
On a personal level, the 70-cap hooker had an incredible World Cup campaign.
She was impeccable from the lineout all tournament, hitting 12/12 in obscenely wet conditions against Australia perhaps her most impressive performance. She also became only the third person to score a hattrick in a rugby World Cup final, ending the tournament as the equal-second top try scorer.
Yet, despite all these accomplishments, Cokayne has struggled to allow herself to fully appreciate her achievements.
“I think I personally find it really difficult to have that proud feeling.
“I know a lot of people even when we were at the airport the next day saying: ‘You should be so proud of yourselves, you did so well, it was such a great game”. I just really struggle to find the pride in that because of losing.
“Maybe when I’m old I can boast to people that is scored a hattrick in a World Cup final and just forget about the result. But yeh it’s just one of those things isn’t it, sport is super cruel”
As that Final moves further away in the rear-view mirror, the Red Roses must now focus on what lies ahead. For Cokayne, England must build on their strong youth contingent.
“We’ve got to move on. We’re lucky because we’ve now got a Six Nations to look forward to. Some of the other countries obviously don’t have that luxury.
“I think it’s really easy to think we’ve lost, we need massive changes. We’re not far off that win.
“Most people involved from that time are still involved now, we’re not losing too many people, if any, to retirement.”
“There’s so much young talent in the team, the likes of Hannah Botterman, Maud [Muir], Sadia [Kabeya], Morwenna [Talling], all this good young talent that had no experience at a World Cup, they’ve experienced what it’s like now.
For Cokayne, the focus now switches back to club duty with Harlequins.
She came off the bench in their 27-0 loss away to Exeter Chiefs last week but will make her first start of the season against Bristol Bears at the Stoop on December 27th. The game was supposed to take place across the road at Twickenham before rail strikes forced ‘Big Game 14 ‘to be postponed.
It’s been a mixed start to the Premier 15s season for Quins, sitting 4th in the table after winning three of their opening five games.
With 3rd place Bristol coming to town in what will be Shaunagh Brown’s final bow, their final game of the calendar year is set to be a belter.
