Ex-Red Roses prop and Harlequins legend Shaunagh Brown spoke of her excitement for England's clash against Ireland at Twickenham this weekend, and what it represents for the women's game as a whole.
The 34-year-old former Hammer Thrower has been a standout figure in pioneering the women's game since her Roses debut in 2017, so much so that she reversed her retirement at the start of this season to bear the fruits of her, and so many others' labours in making women's rugby what it is today.
She'd announced her retirement after a cameo in England's heart breaking 34-31 World Cup Final loss to New Zealand in front of a sell-out 42,579 Eden Park crowd, but returned to her club side Harlequins in July 2023 following a 58,498 strong attendance for England's Six Nations Grand Slam clinching win against France last year, and a rebrand for the Premiership Women's Rugby (PWR) tournament.
Speaking about the immediate future of the women's game, Brown believes there's much to look forward to.
She said: “Seeing the England Ireland game at Twickenham, stand alone, it's just the growth on last year's against France. I'm hoping we can get an even bigger crowd, with it being Ireland, and hopefully having a few more away fans coming as well”.
Whilst it remains to be seen whether last year's world record women's crowd can be topped – ticket sales for this weekend are currently hovering just over 45,000 – the game will not be judged on ticket sales alone.
It represents the gathering of unprecedented momentum given last year's thrilling 38-33 England victory was the Red Roses' first ever stand-alone game at the home of rugby.
“It's no longer ‘I think there's some girls playing before or after the men's game, it's a reason to get some more beers in',” said Brown.
“It's actually a whole occasion itself. We have to stand up and be counted. We're getting to a place where we are turning a profit, we're making revenue for England Rugby – them investing in us is starting to pay off.
“The quality of the game, the players, is being taken seriously. If the RFU/England rugby are taking their women seriously, other people will also take it seriously.”
No doubt Harlequins' league-leading professional setup was a contributing factor too. Brown helped them on their way to a Premier 15s title in 2020/21 and they have continued to pour funding into their women's side, which has contributed to unique experiences such as training with ‘Ireland's fittest woman' Ellen McQuaid.
“If I was going to come back, it was always only going to be for Quins”, said Brown.
“[Training with Ellen] was an incredible day from the beginning. Just seeing how strong willed she is, how determined and disciplines that she does it all alone. She told us about her training day, she does 8-5 to replicate her husband who has a normal job.
“She has help from specialist coaches but it's her getting herself up every morning to those tough sessions. Getting through it, having lunch, going again in the afternoon – it's all her.
“I can confirm CrossFit's not for me!” She continued. “One of the videos that went on social of her talking us through a workout, and at the end it says ‘this is the warm-up!'
“I was like ‘that says warmup? Is that a typo?' It was ridiculous it was like a workout and a half for me.
“There's no cruising. Whether it's timed or filmed, there's a number to everything. It's not 2-3 reps, it's all 15-18 reps, 20-25 reps! Or, there's a time, you have to get it within a minute – there's no chill.
I”t's cool if that's your bag, but for me I do need a little chill session here and there, the intensity is through the roof in what seems like every session”.
Brown's last point of other unions following England Rugby's lead is pertinent given the results on show in this year's Women's Six Nations.
England's results so far of 48-0, 46-10, and 46-0 against Italy, Wales and Scotland respectively represents a disparity of investment and risks undermining the quality of rugby that is self-evident in each game.
That is why, Brown says, the rebranding of the top tier of English women's rugby into the PWR, has come at a crucial time. Announced at the start of this season, the newly-named PWR kick started a new era of women's rugby with a broadcasting deal and two new sides (Leicester Tigers and Ealing Trailfinders), and Brown believes it's already paying dividends.
“The quality of the games, the fact there is no easy game anymore, and you don't know the result of most games until the final whistle. It doesn't matter who scores first, the first half score, there's always so much guessing to be done because the whole league is so competitive.
“[The] Biggest change for me is seeing the TNT sport commitment, having at least a game every week”, said Brown.
“We [Harlequins] had two games [on TV] two weeks in a row, some weeks there's a couple games showing. There's genuinely a place to watch it if you can't get to a game is what I enjoy.
“For us at Quins especially, there's always reporting on the games, ways to follow it, whether it's on Twitter [X], Instagram – you can keep up with it without seeing it. Just generally being taken more seriously.
“There's so much we have in place around Quins, whether it's around food, kit, equipment, training sessions – it's all so professional.
“There's constant feedback forms, staff wanting to know our opinions on things, I feel like a professional athlete, I don't feel like I'm just rocking up to rugby and then going home”.
The money injected into clubs both by the PWR and by individual boards was too good an opportunity for Brown to miss. Having arrived at the club in 2017, receiving a full-time English Rugby contract in 2019 and winning 30 caps for the Red Roses, that's natural given her part in a generation of players who have laid the ground work for such success.
“Part of my return was around the PWR launch and the rebranding of the league, seeing that the league is just growing and growing”, said Brown.
“If the PWR rebrand didn't happen, it would've been a harder decision for me to come back”.
Written by Tom Jeffreys
For exclusive stories and all the detailed rugby news you need, subscribe to The Rugby Paper website, digital edition, or newspaper from as little as 14p a day.
