We had a great evening, all together. This was our time, but I’ll share one important moment with you. The former captain of Ukraine men’s team, Valeriy Maksyuk, came to find us at the hotel after the reception. Somehow, he felt a connection with our team, and he wanted to congratulate us for a great weekend. We did surprise a lot of people. He wanted to give us a Ukrainian jersey, his jersey from back when he was playing 7s for Ukraine. Our captain Karoline chose to offer it to Gina, who she thought was the best player in the team this weekend.

It was a very emotional moment, a perfect illustration both of the values of rugby and of the players’ attachment to these values. It was a little magic.

Rugby can create these emotions – of course we focus on our game, on the technique, on the decisions we make. We don’t intend to provoke emotions. What the spectators see however is how courageous we are, how much determination we put in our game, how we cope with challenges, how far we will stretch ourselves to make these tiny differences which can bring great results.

Thanks Valeriy for taking the time to meet us, for your kind words, for this nice gesture, and for taking your captainship beyond borders.