‘Trailblazer' Jade Konkel-Roberts believes the task for the current crop of Scotland players is to pave the way for future generations of women hoping to live out their rugby dreams.
The Scotland No.8, who has 55 international caps, enjoyed bringing the spotlight to women's rugby at the World Cup and hopes to utilise the sport's wave of momentum.
She said: “We came short of making the quarter-finals which was a goal of ours but ultimately it's the first World Cup we've been to in 12 years and I've spent 10 years trying to get to a World Cup so to be there and experience it was absolutely incredible, and we put Scotland back on the map.
“Hopefully the kids and people back home can think this is the start and we'll be at the next one. We want to keep building and at the next World Cup show exactly why we deserve to stay there.
“Even when I was back I was getting up at 3 am to watch because it was so special.”
The 29-year-old Harlequins star feels a responsibility to grow the game and hopes to lay the foundations for the next set of Scotland stars.
She said: “We'll be the trailblazers and hopefully in 10 years time the little kids that are asking for our autographs will be in a better place where they won't have to ask for more.
“Hopefully, we're creating this platform for kids coming through and they can focus more on the rugby rather than all the other things which we're on the right path to achieving.”
In November last year, New Zealand snapped England's record 30-game win streak on home soil in one of the most dramatic games of rugby in recent memory to lift the World Cup for the unprecedented sixth time.
The final, played in front of a record 42,579 fans at Eden Park, capped off a transcendent tournament for women's rugby with viewing records being shattered in the process.
Even with the heartbreak of that dramatic loss in the final, recently retired England international Shaunagh Brown recognised that despite the Red Roses falling at the final hurdle, the significance of the tournament for women's rugby was monumental.
In the early hours of the morning, 1.7 million people across the UK watched the final on ITV with a further 1.3 million witnessing history from their homes in New Zealand.
She said: “It's realising how much change we've made as a group of people, we fell short of our goal but we got people wanting to watch the women's game.”
“There's definitely been a shift in mentality. I was at a Six Nations event last year where people would outright ignore me and some of the men would have to introduce me, so it's definitely now changing and it's all for the better.”
