Flanker Alisha Butchers accepts Wales are under added pressure going into the Rugby World Cup after becoming professionals in the tournament build-up.

Butchers, 25, is among the players awarded professional deals by the Welsh Rugby Union in 2022.

"There's definitely added pressure and that's rightly so," said Butchers.

"I think it comes with elite sport and professionalism so we hold ourselves under a large amount of pressure and so do the coaching staff."

The Bristol Bears player expects Wales to underline that status and approach when they face Scotland at Northland Events Centre, Whangarei.

"Come Sunday I think you'll be able to see a polished performance from us," Butchers told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

"We've been working extremely hard over pre-season and we're just really looking forward to the opportunity to show what we've been working on and how far we've come as a group against a good Scottish side."

On a personal level, being at the World Cup in New Zealand is the culmination of a career in which Butchers never believed she would become a professional.

"It's something we'd been fighting for for a long time and for me personally it was a really special moment," said Butchers of the moment head coach Ioan Cunningham called to offer her a WRU deal.

"At 25 years old I didn't think it was coming in my career to be honest so to have that phone call from Ioan and kind of get the green light that he believes in me as a player individually was really special and I think it gave me the confidence heading into the Six Nations and into this World Cup then as well."

During that 2022 Six Nations the Wales players and staff were filmed behind the scenes for Game Changers.

The programme charts their evolution from dedicated amateurs playing at the top level to heading to the World Cup as professionals.

It will be broadcast on BBC One Wales at 22:40 BST on Tuesday, 4 October and later be available on demand.

The Wales squad have already watched the programme at their training camp and Butchers said it provoked an "emotional" reaction.

"We all sat around together to watch and it was really cool - it was a bit emotional," she said.

"There were a lot of tears shed and just an opportunity for us as a group to reflect on how far we've come because I think sometimes we forget that and we're so caught up in the competitive edge of sport that we forget how far we've come and all the sacrifices we've made so it was a really special moment for us to sit as a group together watching."

As for what lies ahead at the World Cup, Butchers says their build-up that included defeats by Canada and England should be viewed as preparation for that opening game against Scotland.

"Throughout our preparations Scotland has always been our main focus and our goal, rather than the warm-up games.

"We're looking forward to pulling on the jersey again and running out in a great stadium with a great crowd and lots of family members going to be there as well so that'll be exciting.

"Loads of our families have come out. We're really, really lucky that we've got quite a big support crew coming over."