“We used to call him Monster,” Katy Mclean says of Davey Wilson, the England prop, as she remembers the unlikely combination they once made at the base of the scrum for Westoe under‑11s in South Shields. Eighteen years have passed and Mclean has won 73 caps and captained England to a World Cup triumph while Wilson has played 41 times internationally.
One of the obvious differences between them now is that Wilson has earned a good living from the game for a dozen years, while last autumn, still glowing from that World Cup victory and a few months before she turned 29, Mclean had to take a pay cut to leave her job as a primary school teacher and finally become a rugby professional.
Mclean brushes aside any bitterness at the inequities that have clogged her rugby career. Instead, on a beautiful winter’s afternoon in Guildford, she relishes remembering her past in the north-east. She smiles as she describes Wilson and herself. “Davey was a No8 back in the day, and I was this bossy little scrum-half with a ponytail. He was [eight months] older than me but I played in that higher age group and we were in a very good team for a few seasons.”
As a scrum-half and a No8 did she and Monster forge a strong understanding? “Yeah,” Mclean says, laughing, “he often just picked it up and ran. Or I pushed him out of the way so I could pick it up and run. When he was nine he was a foot taller than everyone else and twice as wide. Davey was massive for his age and we always knew he was going to be some player.”
One of Mclean’s earliest memories is of “being in my wellies on the touchline, watching my dad play rugby. My little sister is the complete opposite. She’s very girly, into dresses and makeup, high heels, that kind of thing. But I just wanted to play rugby. I got my dad to take me down to the club when I was five. There were three girls at Westoe but the other two were much older than me. I don’t think they played much longer but I loved it. I was always in the middle of it telling everyone what to do. I had no fear and I was very competitive.”
There was often sniping from grouchy dads on the opposition touchline who objected to a girl playing rugby. “Yeah,” Mclean says. “I remember one guy saying: ‘You need to get the girl. Why’s that girl playing?’ I thought: ‘What’s your problem?’ It only really bothered me when I was 11 or 12 and I was devastated when I had to stop playing. Once you get to 12 you can’t play mixed rugby any more and there were no girls’ teams then.
“I had a bit of a fall-out with rugby for a while. I was like a teenager sitting and sulking in the corner because I couldn’t play it. I played North of England hockey, a bit of netball and football but at 16 I had a choice of college and I obviously went to the one where there was rugby.”
Mclean looks up and smiles again for, like most pioneers, she can dismiss past adversity to savour the more enduring impact she and other England World Cup winners have had on the women’s game. “It’s so much better now and there are many more opportunities for girls to play rugby from under-13 to under-18 level. We’ve come a long way.”
Professional sport, however, is a harsh business. On Monday, a few days after this interview took place, the RFU announced that Gary Street, the England women’s national coach, would step down. Mclean remembers Street’s key role in her career and describes how, after she had played for England in the 2010 World Cup final, in a heartbreaking loss at the Stoop to New Zealand, she sometimes trained alone with her national coach in the middle of a deserted racecourse.
After she had completed a long day of teaching her reception class in Sunderland, Mclean would train with her club in Darlington, work out in the gym or occasionally meet Street, who travelled hundreds of miles to hone her game at fly-half. They usually ended up kicking balls to each other on a dark and freezing track in North Yorkshire – before she went back home for a night of marking and lesson preparation.
“It’s ridiculous, really, to think what we had to do then. It was in Thirsk and Gary would come up once every six weeks for a one-on-one session. It was generally kicking out-of-hand stuff and Thirsk rugby club is based alongside the racetrack.” Mclean shivers and grimaces. “It was very windy up there – but that’s another sign of how we’ve all moved on the last few years. Look at this now … ”
The England captain gestures at the pristine rugby fields of the Surrey Sports Park in Guildford, where Harlequins and the England women’s sevens squad share facilities. Mclean has just spent the day training in perfect conditions and followed a photoshoot in the sunshine with an ice bath to soothe any lingering bruises as she prepares to fly to Rio de Janeiro this week for an international sevens tournament. It is a long way from Westoe, Thirsk and her reception class in Sunderland.
Yet the belated opportunity to turn professional last October, as part of a 20-woman squad preparing to play sevens at the Rio Olympics, was not a clearcut decision for a dedicated teacher. “It was one of those difficult situations where you have two fantastic options,” Mclean says. “We had a new head who I found really inspiring and I would’ve loved to have worked under him. But this was a chance to become a full-time professional rugby player under an inspiring [England sevens] coach like Simon Middleton. I really wanted to do both. But, ultimately, I knew I’d only get one opportunity to be a professional rugby player. I can always go back to teaching.”
Mclean is impressively honest in conceding that the switch had its difficult moments. “It was quite up and down. At first it was amazing. Putting on my England kit and coming into training was such a high. I was thinking: ‘This is my job now. Wow. This is a very cool way of working.’ But after a while I was unsure how best to use my time. As a teacher I was always busy. I was doing marking and prep in the evening and turning pro was very different.
“Don’t get me wrong. We put so much into training between half-seven and four in the afternoon but my day is done then – whereas as a teacher, at four, I headed to the gym or training. And mentally, as a rugby pro, I was not as stimulated as before. So October to December was a bit of a rocky road. Also, relocating and moving house was quite a big thing in itself.
“It was only two months after winning the World Cup so I was thinking: ‘Mmmm, this is a big jump. There’s so much change going on.’ But I’ve sorted things out now. I’m going to be doing more with schools, talking to kids, and probably a masters in leadership and management. I’ve become more interested in leadership since the World Cup.”
Mclean’s determination to win the World Cup was tested during last year’s tournament in France. She was injured near the end of the first pool game against Samoa. “It was a grade two MCL [a tear of her medial collateral ligament] and that normally means you’re out for six weeks. They got me back in nine days, which was a massive effort by the rehab team. In my first game back [in the final pool match against Canada, whom England met again in the final] the first thing I did was clear a ruck. People were saying: ‘What are you doing?’ But your instinct takes over.”
In 2010, Mclean had been so certain England would win the World Cup, even with only minutes left on the clock and trailing 13-10 in the final. “I was convinced someone was going to do something but then the whistle went and I was so shocked. I thought I had ticked every box in preparation so how do you move on from that? I had to completely regroup. I also learnt never to settle into the bubble of thinking we were going to win. Last year I didn’t accept that we were going to win the World Cup until, with 75 minutes gone when Scaz [Emily Scarratt] scored, I could see that at 21-9 there was no chance of them coming back.”
Mclean describes that delirious night of celebration as the sweetest of her life. It was also significant because the years of work done by Mclean, Maggie Alphonsi and all the unsung heroes of English women’s rugby had finally been rewarded. “That World Cup wasn’t just about the 27 players and coaches who won it,” Mclean says. “It was also for the absolute legends of my game who came before us. That generation should be remembered. At the same time I think that with brilliant players like Scaz, the next generation has real stars to follow.”
Scarratt is an exceptional centre and goal-kicker. She plays with verve and skill and, alongside Mclean and the recently retired Alphonsi, has helped change perceptions of women’s rugby. “It’s gone from me saying: ‘OK, come down and watch a game for 20 minutes before you dismiss us,’ to people saying: ‘Oh my God, we saw you guys in the World Cup. It was amazing. When are you playing next?’ That’s a massive shift – and it’s testament to how the game has changed.
“In 2007, when I faced Italy at Twickenham, only 300 people were there. Now we play in front of crowds of 12,500. At the end of this Six Nations we play France at Twickenham. That will be straight after the men’s game and it could be a grand slam decider. So, after our World Cup success, we hope a big section of the crowd will stay to watch us.”
Mclean will miss the women’s opening Six Nations game between England and Wales because she is expected to play in Rio. “I’ll be back for the second game against Italy but Rio is really exciting. It will be my first trip to South America – and hopefully the first of at least two. I always told my dad I wanted to play for England and lift the World Cup. The Olympics was never an option until now. It great to have a new challenge and I’d love to go to the Rio Olympics and also play in the 2017 World Cup.”
Does part of her wish that she had had such opportunities in rugby, like Davey “Monster” Wilson did, when she was 21? “I’ve never thought that,” Mclean says instantly. “I’ve had a balanced life – with teaching and rugby. Now, as a pro, I’m in a very privileged position. Me and my team-mates can shape and influence the game and help girls who are 11 and think: ‘Yeah, there could be an exciting future in this sport. There are so many opportunities now.’ That’s a privilege for me – and I won’t waste it.”