Has there ever been more expectation on a side heading into a Rugby World Cup than England Women on home soil this summer?
One immediate comparison that comes to mind is the 2011 All Blacks, who spent the 2000s as the best team in the men's game but kept blowing their opportunities at the big dance, failing to even reach the final.
When they did eventually get over the line in 2011, squeezing past France 8-7 at Eden Park in a suffocating contest, captain Richie McCaw and coach Graham Henry both mentioned the "sheer relief" felt by everyone having delivered under the weight of all that expectation.
Should all go to plan, England's players and staff will share that same feeling at Allianz Stadium on September 27, healing the heartbreak of their defeat in the World Cup final three years ago.
To say that England have dominated the women's game between that dramatic 31-34 defeat to New Zealand at Eden Park and heading into this World Cup would be a colossal understatement.
They have played 27 matches and won all 27, which means three Grand Slams in the Six Nations and two WX1 titles. In those matches they have scored 1,326 points, an average of 49 points per game. And in that same spell they have conceded just 335 points, an average of 12 points per game. It is an absurd record.
Sure, there has been the old close shave in that run, with France pushing them hard in the Six Nations. But in their final warm-up games before the World Cup, England travelled to Mont-de-Marsan and won 40-6. Couple that with a 97-7 win over Spain in Leicester and if there is any concern about England, it may be that they are coming into the tournament without the kind of stern challenge their coach John Mitchell would no doubt have loved to correct any flaws before the real business gets underway.
Why, exactly, are England so good? Well, other contenders at this World Cup have their superstars but no other squad possesses as much collective talent, as many world-class players. Most teams would kill for a top-quality tighthead; England have two in Sarah Bern and Maud Muir.
No 8 Alex Matthews and wing Abby Dow have been named in the past three World Rugby teams of the year, while second-row Zoe Aldcroft, flanker Marlie Packer and full-back Ellie Kildunne have all featured twice. Outside centre Meg Jones, the Premiership Women's Rugby player of the season, will most likely join that group at the end of the year given her outstanding form with Leicester and England. Kildunne, last year's World Rugby player of the year, feels on the cusp of cracking mainstream media beyond the women's game.
What has separated England from other sides in recent years is the quality of their power game. Their top ball-carriers - especially front-rows Hannah Botterman, Bern and Muir - constantly get over the advantage line to give England the momentum needed in attack to stretch defences and create space for the likes of Dow and Kildunne to exploit.
Their maul, with either hooker Amy Cokayne or Atkin-Davies directing traffic, has a phenomenal conversion rate when launched from close range. In the previous World Cup cycle England built their attack around that powerful weapon and you could see why, given their opponents could not handle England's set-piece power. During the last three years their attack has been notably more balanced; still a juggernaut upfront, but with added flair.
An English triumph is not a done deal. Canada and New Zealand can push them close. France, even with that heavy warm-up defeat, should not be ruled out. The tournament for those three contenders is essentially a free hit with all the pressure on England to deliver. New Zealand, targeting a third straight title, boast the game's best player in Portia Woodman-Wickliffe. Even though England have won the last three meetings with the Black Ferns since their defeat in the last World Cup final, there is a psychological barrier there for them to hurdle.
Yet this still feels like England's tournament to win, the best squad with the best recent record driven by the pain of the 2021 tournament, desperate to add to their World Cup triumph in 2014. Now, they have to deliver.
