The final six weeks before a World Cup team selection are tough. In every one I was involved in, including when I was England captain for the 2014 tournament in France, I remember feeling most nervous about the final contact training session before selection.
You just want to survive it without injury as you're within touching distance of a World Cup but everyone is playing for their place, it is a highly competitive climate.
The final days leading up to a World Cup are the most stressful, all you want is for the tournament to get underway. There are some perks to the current squad being out in New Zealand. Because of the time difference, they will be a little more removed from the build-up and media coverage in the UK as we did in France eight years ago. It's not that there's less pressure on them, but it's not so much in their faces.
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Once at the World Cup, there are the team announcements before each game, for those who are playing in the early stages, it's brilliant. For those who aren't, there's the worry of 'will I even play in the later stages of the tournament?', every player wants to get minutes under their belt in those first games.
England head into the tournament on the back of a fantastic 25-match unbeaten run, but protecting that will be the least of their worries and stresses, the focus will all be on performances and winning the tournament. A group-stage loss wouldn't go down well for sure but all that will matter ultimately will be lifting that trophy.
You never know what is going to happen, especially in the group stages. You don't know what France will offer in that second game. For England they are focused on the World Cup and that winning record is just a side note to it all. This World Cup has been billed as theirs to lose, and with the pain of losing the last final still raw for many of the squad, they would feel absolute despair if England finish anywhere less than first.
Sarah Hunter heads into her fourth World Cup and second as captain. For her, it's all about managing the rest of the group and is something she's very good at. She'll be making sure the young players don't get ahead of themselves. It's a long tournament at six weeks. No one will have done that before and downtime is going to be really important. She'll also be very good at connecting with the staff group because the pressure also builds on the coaches and others as the tournament progresses, I know that Simon Middleton has a lot of respect for Sarah and they will talk lots about these factors I'm sure.
Sarah's not a big aggressive talker, certainly not as 'shouty' as I was! She's more of a 'lead by example' captain and that's again what's going to be huge about this tournament - you would always want her in and around the squad because she sets an incredible example. That's why, even when she hasn't been in the team through injury, she's always carrying water and around the squad because of the vital emotional aspect she brings to that group.
England open up against Fiji, a nation making their first appearance at a World Cup. I think we can expect a lot of passion from them, and for England it will be about being patient. In the early stages of games, opponents tend to push England close and Fiji could offer that. They're a skilful group - just look at their Sevens side. They want to move the ball, they want to play.
I think what will be the difference - and what will set England apart across the whole World Cup - will be their ability to go for 80 minutes, their fitness, the quality on the bench, all those things. I would imagine that at the beginning of the game we might have a bit of a contest, and then when we get to 50 minutes, that's where I'd expect England will really run away with it.
How will Wales and Scotland fare?
Wales only handed out their first full-time contracts to players nine months ago. I remember when I was a similar length of time into my professional deal that it took me quite some time just to get used to it. These girls have come from a very different way of life where they've been balancing working and training full-time. I would've expected more from them in that World Cup warm-up game against England a few weeks ago, but their first opening group game against Scotland is absolutely huge for both sides.
Scotland will be the happier of these sides with how their warm-up games went, they pushed a fifth-in-the-world-ranked USA side to within four points and will take huge confidence in this going into the game against Wales. They will also want revenge from the Six Nations where they led until Wales snatched a late winner to take the game 24-19. For me, Wales vs Scotland is one of the tastier matches of the opening round of games. Both sides will be looking to get out of the group and reach a quarter-final, definitely one to watch.
Tournament dark horses
Canada always do well at World Cups, reaching semi-finals. They've gone a little under the radar in the build-up to this tournament and have a lot of girls playing over in England.
They had some good warm-up matches against Wales, have some talented players, a very solid pack and pace out wide. Canada could potentially top their group, get a good quarter, and you'd see them in a semi. Japan could be another nation to watch out for with their edge-to-edge rugby and sniping runs around the breakdown. They could pick up third place in their group and reach the quarters.
Don't write off the Black Ferns
Being the host nation can do two things. It can either inspire them to find things they didn't think were possible, or create a stress that makes them crumble.
New Zealand are not a nation who are used to losing at rugby, especially the Black Ferns but we saw England record two convincing wins over them in the autumn internationals last year. For the first time, I wonder about the quality of their individual players. Previously they've had some absolute legends of our game, but are this next crop as good as that? They will not want to go out any earlier than the final and I'm sure that within their camp now, they'll think they can go and win this.
New Zealand crowds will embrace tournament
Despite the huge time difference for us, New Zealand is a great place to take the Rugby World Cup, they love their rugby. When we were there back in 2017 in the build-up to the tournament in Ireland, everybody knew what was happening, there were lots of signs and references to it, people everywhere just love talking about rugby.
In the past I've sensed that the opening rounds are harder to sell, but as the tournament goes on, that's when momentum builds and you start to hear all about it and it starts to sell itself. For this World Cup it will be such a welcoming and inclusive environment for all the players out there. I reckon that the opening crowds could be fantastic in such a rugby-loving nation and be a tournament of record-breaking attendance.
I'm feeling a real buzz around this competition, I think it's set to be an amazing opportunity for people to watch a range of different nations, and see a range of different game styles and strengths - bring it on!