FORMER West Somerset Community College student Danielle Waterman shows off her silver medal after England came within a whisker of winning the Women's Rugby World Cup on Sunday.

Danielle, better known locally as Nolli, played full-back for England as they narrowly lost 13-10 to tournament favourites New Zealand in the final at the Twickenham Stoop in London.

Nolli, 25, became England's youngest senior player when she played against Ireland as an 18-year-old back in 2003.

Since then she has represented England many times and played in the last women's rugby world cup final - when England also lost to New Zealand.

Sunday's win was the fourth consecutive world title for the Antipodean side known as the Black Ferns.

Nolli was back in Minehead this week visiting friends and family before taking up a new job overseeing the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) programme at Hartbury College in Gloucester.

Rugby runs in the veins of the Waterman family - father Jim, who recently retired as a teacher from the community college, played more than 400 senior matches for Bath before joining Minehead Barbarians, while brothers Sam and Joe have both been involved in representative levels of the game.

Nolli credits much of her rugby success to her family's connections with the Minehead club: "We have all played for the Barbarians and the club had a massive impact on all of us," she told the Free Press.

She said the atmosphere at Sunday's match had been "unbelievable" and she hoped her England caps would inspire other women and girls to take up the sport.

"Unfortunately, we didn't get the result we wanted but it was an unbelievable day and it was fantastic to have the support we had from the crowd," she said.

Photo: Steve Guscott