Tuesday 8 August 2017 13:02, UK
Maggie Alphonsi feels the RFU's decision not to renew the England women's team contracts will not harm their World Cup campaign.
Alphonsi, who captained the national side to a World Cup in 2014, feels the squad's balance of youth and experience will make them favourites to repeat that feat in the tournament in Ireland, which kicks off on Wednesday.
The governing body confirmed earlier this month that central contracts for the reigning Women's Six Nations and world champions will not be renewed, with the funding redirected to the rugby sevens team.
Current skipper Sarah Hunter has insisted that "nothing changes" as a result of the decision and that the players' focus is firmly on the competition, a strategy with which Alphonsi concurs.
"I think Sarah Hunter is correct that it won't be a distraction but it is a talking point because we always want our players to have their full-time contracts in place at the end of a World Cup," she said.
"The good thing is that we're talking about it. Who knows, through this there could potentially be change."
England begin their campaign with a game against Spain in Dublin on Wednesday, and also face Italy and the USA in their pool.
After recent victories over Australia and New Zealand, Alphonsi feels England should feel confident they can retain their title as world champions.
"I would say they are favourites," she said. "In the 2006 World Cup they went into it not necessarily as favourites but as a team likely to get to the final, and it was the same in 2010.
"This time they're going in as the number one team in the world and that'll give the players a lot of confidence.
"It's an advantage to have 15 players from 2014 there too. You have players who know what it's like to win a World Cup, but they also have some young players in there such as Sarah Byrne and Zoe Oldcroft, they'll bring a level of freshness to the side."
