It's been a long journey for the Wallaroos to reach the 2021 Rugby World Cup quarterfinals. From no Test matches throughout 2020 and 2021, delayed training camps and satellite training sessions, the team now finds themselves taking on England, the tournament favourites, in a battle of semi-professionals against fulltime athletes.
Heading into the knockout stages, the Wallaroos are one of the only teams under the semi-professional umbrella - only Canada and the United States are worse off as amateur athletes who have paid their way through the tournament - while the likes of the Black Ferns, England and France enjoy fulltime contracts with Wales contracting 10 players with a further 15 on semi-professional contracts.
Throughout the tournament the gulf between the professional outfits, and the semi-professional and amateur teams, has been widely observed. England have conceded just 26 points in three matches while scoring 172 of their own, while the Black Ferns scored 152 points across their three pool matches. In contrast, teams such as Japan and South Africa, who receive little funding, we're easily overrun by their opposition.
England, alongside the Black Ferns, entered the tournament as the highest paid athletes with the Black Ferns top tier players earning up to NZ$130,000 a year, while the Red Roses, who have enjoyed their fulltime athlete status since 2019, earn up to $58,000 with the added remuneration from the Premiership 15s competition and the Rugby Football Union's World Cup bonus payments.
Meanwhile, Wallaroos players earn up to just $26,000 a year through training camps and tournaments, with Super W sides offering little in the way of payment structure, while there's no World Cup winning bonuses on offer like their counterparts in the England squad.
Following the Wallaroos' blowout 41-17 tournament opening loss to the Black Ferns, mainstay backrower Em Chancellor lamented the funding chasm between the two sides, admitting the team entered the game from a disadvantaged position, as they will again on Sunday afternoon.
"If you look at the way we played at the start of the year to the way we played [in the tournament opener], you can see that in the short time we've had together we've developed so well as a team," Chancellor said after the Black Ferns loss.
"You look at it and go 'holy smokes, if we had more resources and looked at that full time option like the other teams we're competing against, of course we'd be more competitive against New Zealand'... we're playing from a disadvantaged position.
"We're not going to use it as an excuse but it's the reality of women's rugby here [in Australia] and the differences around the world in terms of the investment [national] unions are making in the game."
With a team built around engineers, teachers, labourers and students, the balance between work and rugby is difficult. Squad members balance their days starting early and ending late with field sessions, match reviews, gym sessions and more, slotting in around regular nine-to-five jobs, weekend work and university studies.
Chancellor has put a positive spin on the situation, labeling training and playing time as her 'double life', harking back to the amateur days of the Wallabies and comparing herself to the likes of Nick Farr-Jones and Tim Horan. For others, the juggling act is tiresome and hard, with the COVID-19 pandemic especially taking its toll mentally on the players.
Many look to their family for support and rely heavily on their employer's good will to help them pursue their dreams, meanwhile the Red Roses have enjoyed seamless preparation that's included camps and a highly success Six Nations tournament.
Entering the World Cup aiming for a quarterfinal place, the Wallaroos have already achieved what they'd earmarked as a successful campaign and enter the first knockout match under little pressure and under no illusions of just how difficult the task ahead is going to be.
While the odds stacked against them - which is perfectly illustrated by England's 28-game winning run - the Wallaroos head into the clash excited about what could possibly be achieved.
"We're feeling confident, we're feeling excited to take on the English Roses," Wallaroos vice-captain Illiseva Batibasaga said. "100 percent we're going to test ourselves and each week we've gotten better, so we're relishing this extra time together as a team and we're also pumped to take it to England. Everyone loves an underdog back in Aussie so this is for you guys.
"The theme for this week is 'whatever it takes', we're giant slayers, so hopefully we can get it done. We're confident, we've proved that we can play with 13 players, we're confident we'll leave it all out on the park this week and we'll rise to the occasion."
Wallaroos: Pauline Piliae-Rasabale, Bienne Terita, Georgina Friedrichs, Shanri Williams, Lori Cramer, Arabella McKenzie, Layne Morgan, Grace Hamilton, Shannon Parry, Emily Chancellor, Grace Kemp, Michaela Leonard, Bridie O'Gorman, Adiana Talakai, Liz Patu. Replacements: Tania Naden, Emily Robinson, Eva Karpani, Sera Naiqama, Piper Duck, Illiseva Batibasaga, Cecilia Smith, Mahalia Murphy.