DANIELLE Waterman may be representing England at a fourth Women’s Rugby World Cup this month, but that has not dulled the excitement for the Somerset star.

The 32-year-old full-back, who was born in Taunton and brought up in Minehead, was selected as part of a 28-strong squad to defend the world title won in 2013.

The tournament is being hosted by Ireland, and begins this coming Wednesday (August 9).

Waterman, known as ‘Nolli’, has won 70 caps for her country, having started to play at a very young age, first with her brothers in the garden, and then at her local club.

She said: “I grew up in Minehead and started playing rugby at the age of four, playing with the boys, before four years in New Zealand.”

After that period overseas, she returned to Minehead Barbarians RFC, a club for which she has nothing but praise.

“It’s such a fantastic club, so family-oriented; some of my best memories were made there,” she said.

“They never made me feel different [to the boys], and it’s a home from home.”

That’s reflected by her visits to the club, conscious of her role in inspiring the next generation.

“It’s very important to give back to the community.

“There’s a strong girls and women’s set-up at the club, shown by the number of players who have gone on to represent Somerset and the South West.”

As for the task at hand, England are focused on their World Cup defence, with pool matches against Spain (August 9, ko 2pm), Italy (August 13, ko 2.30pm) and the USA (August 17, ko 2.30pm).

“For the last few weeks we’ve been focused on the processes to get it right,” Waterman said.

“Personally I’m very excited to go, and there’s a real buzz about the squad.”

She believes that the squad has a good balance between youth and experience, with herself and three others among the 28 having appeared at every World Cup since 2006 – and so they are able to pass on their knowledge to the young guns.

Indeed, having scored a try in the 2014 final against Canada, which England won 21-9, Waterman knows how to deliver on the biggest stage.

She said: “This is my fourth World Cup, and you take something from each of them.

“I really enjoyed the last one, and I played some of my best rugby.

“We have a really strong leadership group [in the squad] for making decisions, and we’ve worked unbelievably hard on strength and conditioning.”

England may be ranked number one in the world, and they’re the bookmakers’ favourites to defend their crown, but Waterman insists they’re taking nothing for granted.

“We’re going in ranked number one, but anything can happen at a World Cup.

“In 2014, New Zealand [who had won the four previous tournaments] went out at the pool stage.

“The Irish will want to do well on home soil, France will be strong, and our last match with Canada was close [England won 27-20].

“So it has to be the cliche of taking every game as it comes.”

As well as the team’s place at the top of the rankings and the strength of their squad, Waterman takes heart from England’s victory at the Women’s Cricket World Cup and fine run by the Lionesses at the Euro 2017 football tournament.

“It’s absolutely amazing how well women’s sport has done this summer, and what’s been even better is the media coverage.

“Now we want to take our chance to showcase our sport.”

All of England’s games will be broadcast live on ITV, which could make a massive difference to women’s rugby in the country and get more girls out to play.

“Being on terrestrial TV is huge for our sport, and it’s unprecedented for the tournament.

“There were 3.3 million watching England against France [at Euro 2017], so the potential is absolutely huge.”

She added: “I hope people get behind us as a team, and as a nation.”