Martin hopes to end career with a World Cup win against England

No 8 Rochelle Martin has several reasons for wanting to win when New Zealand take on England in the women's World Cup final in Barcelona tomorrow.

Besides the obvious motivation of turning out in a final, Martin will be playing her 20th and last game for New Zealand.

She wants to produce something special for her team to make up for missing the semifinal through suspension, and to send retiring coach Darryl Suasua out on a high.

Martin also wants to make a good fist of marking English No 8 Gillian Burns, a women's rugby legend who has played in four World Cups and at 38 remains a key figure in the English side.

There is a degree of symmetry in Martin's finishing her career against England - it was a spell of English club rugby in 1995 that helped her international career to take off.

"I spent a season playing for Richmond and it was a fantastic experience," said the 29-year-old Aucklander, who made her debut against Australia in 1994.

"It really helped me because it was a very well-developed game in the forwards there and it was a great opportunity to get some good coaching. When I came back to New Zealand my career just kept going forward."

Martin first came up against Burns in 1995, and eight years later, she still remembers being impressed.

"She's a fantastic competitor. She's held in really high regard in England and internationally as well. I played a couple of club games against her and I certainly respect her as a player."

The chances of the final being a good contest across the park look high, and Martin acknowledges there is something special about playing England, who have always competed well against New Zealand, despite having lost four of their five meetings.

"It's unfortunate we don't get to play them that often because everyone really looks forward to the challenge," she said.

"There's a healthy respect there. We are so competitive that everyone is willing to do almost anything; to put their body on the line, and there's a hunger to win.

"The big thing this time is that they were the first team in 10 years to beat us, and no one liked that. We've been given an opportunity to get one back on them, so everyone is really just looking forward to it."

Martin, who has scored nine tries in her 19 tests, is one of a large number of Black Ferns planning to retire after this tournament. The team will be named today.

* The game will screen live on TV One from 3am tomorrow.

- NZPA