00:00Thank you so much for joining me Rosie. I suppose my first question is, obviously you grew up here in Kent and I read online that some of your early interest in rugby came from a touch tournament. Would you say that's really where your journey with rugby began?
00:13Yeah, massively. I think for me, I've got a very rugby orientated family. My dad played rugby, my brothers played rugby, my dad then coached the boys. So I was always down the rugby club, but I was playing netball at the courts next to it.
00:27And so for me, I spent most of my childhood growing up at Ellsworth Rugby Club. But when I actually first started getting involved was that touch tournament.
00:35And I just felt like I fully could be myself. And it was the first place where I felt like I could be a bigger girl, but still fit into a sport. So, yeah, that is definitely where it stemmed from.
00:47That's amazing. And I think I also read that you had some interest in other sports. You mentioned netball there. I also read online you played some hockey and cricket. But what was it about rugby that really got you hooked?
00:57Like I just said, I think it's the first sport where I fully felt that my body type could fit in. I think with netball, I was a bit boisterous, a bit too pushy.
01:06Hockey just didn't have that natural flair with a hockey stick. But rugby, I felt like I could use all the attributes from different sport like netball with my line out skills and then hockey with that evasion kind of thing.
01:18It was just a sport where I fully felt that I fit in and that family feel that you get through rugby, unless you've been in it, I don't think you can really understand.
01:25But it definitely is like an extended family. And that's what's really nice about it.
01:30And was that the same sort of feeling at Ellsford Balls as well? I mean, you said you spent a lot of your childhood there.
01:34Was it almost like a second family, second bigger family, really?
01:37Yeah, for sure. I think rugby definitely has that feel. And at Ellsford, everyone knows each other.
01:43I still go down now and people ask how my dad is and stuff.
01:47And he's kind of the name in terms of the Galligan. But I think I'm definitely coming for that name.
01:53Brilliant. And talk to us a bit about your journey from the Ellsford Balls all the way, obviously, to joining up with England under-20s.
02:00What was that like for you and your development as a player?
02:04Yeah, for me, it started at Ellsford. But my first actual game was my Kent County trial.
02:09I remember my dad taking me and him saying, Rosie, just catch the ball and run forward.
02:14But instead, I put this massive kick in and the winger managed to get on the end of it and it made me look quite good.
02:20And so it stemmed from there. I played Kent County. I did under-18 like talent development group.
02:26Managed to get into the under-20s a few years later and then got capped for England in 2019
02:31because two of the second rows broke their fingers in a training session.
02:35So that first cap for me, although it was absolutely incredible, it was a cap that came from people's injuries.
02:44Whereas my second cap three years later, after quite a terrible time with meningitis and breaking my ankle,
02:50that second cap was a lot more special for me.
02:52Yeah, you mentioned you broke your ankle, you had meningitis. I'm aware you were out for injury.
02:57So you couldn't really play rugby as you like to do.
03:01So what was it like then for that experience at the World Cup final, having that time away?
03:06I think, was it 2022 you came back?
03:10I think so, yeah. 2022 was the year that I kind of came back from those, into the England squad again, yeah.
03:16So what was it like coming off of that and where you are now, obviously?
03:20How was that feeling ahead of the game with Canada?
03:23Yeah, I think rugby is a massive journey.
03:26You have so many highs and obviously in an England shirt as well, I've managed to win quite a few Grand Slams and WXV titles.
03:34So you obviously remember the highs, but you also remember the real bad days, the real lows that you go through
03:40and how much the sacrifices and the hard work that you've had to put in to get back to the pitch are important.
03:46And I think in that moment when I was singing the national anthem, seeing all of my family in the crowd
03:51and knowing that I'd made it to a World Cup final again for the second time, that was just such a special moment.
03:58And to come away with the win, we'd worked so hard the last three years to make sure that we came off better this time round.
04:05And to be able to do that with a sold out Allianz Stadium at nearly 82,000 was absolutely phenomenal.
04:10And it was an amazing game. And you mentioned the crowd earlier, 81,000.
04:15And I'd like to touch on something you mentioned earlier in the interview about how rugby can make you feel more at home,
04:21as you mentioned, as a bigger girl.
04:22Do you think that now what the squad is doing, what the Red Roses are doing, going out there and winning
04:26is providing that to all those fans in that 80,000 crowd and beyond?
04:30For sure. I think over 5.8 million people watched it on TV, let alone the 81,000 also at the game.
04:36So hopefully we've shown the nation that you can be whatever shape or size you want to be and still play rugby.
04:42There's some big girls out there, there's some small girls out there, there's some fast, there's some slower.
04:47Everyone's got their own talents and everyone's got their own superpowers.
04:50And that is what's so special.
04:51So if you haven't picked up a rugby ball and you fancy it, please do, because I promise you, you won't look back.
04:57Amazing. Thank you so much for your time and for joining us.
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