England losing a match will benefit them in the long run as errors they can learn from are magnified when the team are on the side of defeat, says back-row Abi Burton.

The Red Roses lost their first game since 2022 last Friday as Canada claimed a 24-21 win. It was also the first time Burton had lost in an England shirt. The 26-year-old made her Red Roses debut during the 2025 Guinness Women’s Six Nations and has since played 13 matches for her country.

Burton said losing “sucked” but that it isn’t a new feeling for her because she has lost with GB Sevens previously. She added that “adversity breeds a positive place for growth.”

“I’m glad we got to experience that because sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know,” she said. “I thought Canada were great. I think that is the Test match rugby you want to be in where it can go any way. We all want to play in those games. We don’t want to play in those games where we are beating teams by loads of points. I would rather play in a game like that and lose and learn so much more from it.

“100% [the loss will benefit the team]. I think from a learning point of view, how we can handle situations better when it comes into the last five minutes of the game, that is a massive learning part for us. Also how we can manage from a forwards perspective, from a scrum and lineout point of view how we manage through that and then our conversion when we went into the 22.

“We always would have known that was a fact but it is never magnified as much when you win. From that point of view I think it has been brilliant that we have been able to go through that and come out the other side of it and be in a good place going into the game [on Friday].”

England will play Canada again in a third and final Test during this WXV Global Series on Friday. The response within the England group has been good and the team have come together, according to Burton. She also agreed with the head coach John Mitchell that the loss now frees up the group to hit back.

“There is no more fear of loss or the fear of failure” she said. “It [the unbeaten record] wasn’t necessarily something we spoke about as a group but it is always on social media, it’s always in the headlines. We have got nothing to lose anymore, whereas before we had a 41-game streak to lose.

“It’s like that viral song with the saxophones getting louder, the saxophones were getting louder and we were all like ‘yep we are just going to keep going’. That is the thing, you go out to win every single game but now we are not going out trying to not lose anymore.

“It was always going to loom over us but now we have nothing to lose, opportunities have come about for people to play, it’s a shake up. I think that gives us freedom, we all want freedom to play.”

Away from the pitch the playing group have been involved in some socials while away from home. On Wednesday night they went to watch ice hockey which reminded Burton of “old school rugby league” with “the crowd hurling abuse” and the players “fighting”.

She added the time the teammates spend together when playing away is invaluable to connecting to one another.

“We definitely connect more when we are away,” she said. “It’s one of those things, you are stuck with each other, you can’t escape each other. It’s also about how do we take our experiences from when we are away and how do we take them back to when we are in the middle of a Six Nations campaign? How can we create these bonding experiences naturally when we are at home? We spoke about that the other day.”

Burton will forever be a part of history as she was in the group for their world-record setting run of 41 games unbeaten, including that Women’s Rugby World Cup win last year. But she says the team can continue to add to their legacy despite a loss now ending the record.

“I feel super special to have been a part of that group,” she added. “Hopefully we will continue to make a legacy. It might not be within a massive unbeaten run but it might be the fact we can continue to help shape what rugby looks like in England for young girls and boys coming through.

“It looks like us continuing to sell-out Allianz Stadium. It looks like that. I think that is what we can do to keep shaping it and the wins and everything will come.

“It will come again in time and it could come again Friday. We have to put our best foot forward to do that.”