By Ali Donnelly
Sweden's young centre Johanna Norberg was one of her side's outstanding players in the narrow loss to France on day one of the World Cup.
As the Swedes reflect on almost pulling off a famous win, she tells us how she felt the game went.
"A few hours before our first match we tried to shift the focus on other things than rugby. Most people where trying to relax in their rooms but then the nationals anthems from the first teams matches where roaming thru the speakers. Then we realised the World cup was kicking off and the adrenaline started to pump!"
France scored early in the game and supporters watching the game felt an ominous onslaught was coming - but clearly someone forgot to tell Sweden, as Norbeg explains.
"The match kicked off and even if we got a try scored against us in the first ten minutes we felt really calm and determined, that we could turn around the match. Our defence felt really secure and tight. We where pleased with our performance and we felt like we had the match in our hands. It was a bitter sweet ending. We feel we didn't show our full potential which we have now worked on."
"Now we are looking forward to a tight and intense match against Canada."
Another player to shine in Sweden's first match was the captain Ulrika-Andersson Hall who contributed her team's 9 points in the 15-9 loss.
She adds: "Im very proud of the way the girls started this tournament. Our centres and flankers did a fantastic job in defence with a huge number of tackles. We have a great atmosphere in the team and we really play for each other on the pitch. And we still have things to improve on so I'm looking forward to the coming games."
