Morning training would start early.
If any of Waterman’s young players weren’t on the touchline by 6:30am, the gate would shut and she would exclude any latecomers from the session.
“I lived in Gloucester, so I would travel to Hartpury and get all the equipment out before each session,” she said.
“I said to the girls if I can be here and be ready for you on time – you only have to walk 200 metres to get here.
“I was pretty strict with them, but for good reason – if you turned up to an England session late, you wouldn’t be training and you wouldn’t be selected.
“I would much rather they learn their lessons with me in that safe environment.
“Living that far away from home at that age, they needed a coach, a mentor, various elements of being a psychologist, a bit of a mum in some ways.
“I was called ‘Mummy Nolli’ quite a lot! There was a bit of a running joke that not many could come out of a meeting with me, without having had a little bit of a cry.
“I think I was just that consistent and constant person that they could come to and talk to about anything.”
It was serious. But, inevitably, it was also silly.
Waterman remembers one player having their possessions covered in cling film. Another had their legs turn orange when one of her team-mates swapped massage oil for fake tan.
“It was the best time of my life,” says Jones. “It was such an important time, it set us up for now.”
Waterman reluctantly left after three years in the role, struggling to balance being a player and a teacher.
Nine months later, she scored the opening try in England’s 21-9 win over Canada in the World Cup final.
In nine days time, she hopes to see her former charges become the first England team to win the title since then.
“They deserve everything that comes their way because they are not just incredibly talented rugby players, but more so because they are brilliant women,” said Waterman.
“They are exactly who I want my son, along with so many young girls and daughters across the country, to be looking up to. They are mega.”
Whether or not Waterman’s former pupils end up posing with the trophy on 27 September, it won’t be the image that means most to her however.
“They are at an age now where some are having had children or are getting married and I see the photographs – and, years on, there is always a photograph of them with their friends from Hartpury,” she says.
“The lifelong friendships that they all have are so special. To me, that is one of the biggest and most precious things I’ve taken from my time coaching them – my friendship with them, but also the friendships and fun that they have still together.”
You can find out more about Hartpury’s influence on the Red Roses on a special report to be broadcast by BBC Bristol on Friday, 26 September.
