DESPITE sporting a cut under her left eye former Birchwood High School rugby starlet Hannah Gallagher had a big smile on her face after coming off the bench in the last 20 minutes of England Women’s QBE Autumn International against France at Twickenham on Saturday (November 9).
The 22-year-old hadn’t played since last season’s Four Nations, having spent the last five months recovering after a shoulder operation.
But the flanker was back in action at the home of English rugby in front of a sizeable crowd that had stayed behind to watch following the men’s match against Argentina.
They witnessed a comfortable 40-20 victory for the hosts, the six-try triumph being sweet revenge for their loss at the hands of the French in the 2013 Six Nations which broke England’s unbeaten record at Twickenham.
“I’m really happy to be involved at the start of World Cup year,” Gallagher told the Observer.
“It was difficult watching from the bench but the team did so well, it was great to get 20 minutes and some important game time.”
Gallagher had come on just as France were starting to get back into the match, having pulled a try back after trailing 33-6.
They were gaining in confidence, and with England conceding a string of penalties, beginning to enjoy some territorial advantage having earlier been completely played off the pitch.
“We did so well in the first half it was a matter of keeping that momentum in the second half,” said Gallagher.
“We made a number of changes but it just shows how we can adapt and make sure that we always put in an excellent performance.”
The former bishop’s Stortford RFC and Welwyn player, who now plies her trade with Saracens the Women’s Premiership, laughed off her blood injury.
“That was just a tackle on one of the French players – it could be worse!”
Commenting on her shoulder surgery Gallagher said: “I wanted to get it sorted to be in contention for the World Cup.
“My recovery has gone pretty well. I did a lot of rehab over the summer to make sure I was back a good month before these Autumn Internationals and also get game time with Saracens.
“I wanted to be fully fit mentally and physically for these games.”
Gallagher, who won her 14th senior international cap during the France game, has now played at Twickenham four times but says she never tires of the unique experience of playing in such a magnificent stadium.
“It’s absolutely amazing. to see the men come out with 80,000 people is incredible – it’s what you play rugby for. It makes you shake all over, it’s incredible.
“You never get used to it, the home of English rugby you can’t ask more than that, even with playing with Saracens at a stadium like Allianz Park now.”
Gallagher is 100-per-cent focused on securing a place in the team for the Rugby World Cup in France, when England Women will face a physical opening to their campaign after being drawn against Canada, Samoa and Spain in the pool stages of next year’s tournament in Paris, which takes place from August 1-17.
The 2010 Rugby World Cup finalists are no strangers to Canada and Spain, but they have not played Samoa since 2005.
“It’s a massive dream, not just for me, but for the whole team to play in and win that World Cup,” she said.
“It’s all about making the effort now and making a statement now that we are going out there to win the World Cup and we are going to be a hard team to beat.
“Playing Canada on Wednesday (November 13, in the second Autumn International at the Stoop) will be a great test. We need to can show them what we can do and what’s going to happen in the pool games hopefully.”
Gallagher was also delighted with the coverage the women’s game was getting, with the French match having been show live on Sky Sports.
“It’s amazing, it’s growing and growing and that’s what we want to get more and more girls involved and just make the country event better.
“Our team’s world class and we want to carry on our push to World Cup glory.”
During the early part of her rugby career Gallagher was mentored by Saracens flanker Margaret Alphonsi who has been sidelined since March 2012 with an injury but marked a sensational return to the England set up on Saturday with a superb solo try in the 25th minute.
Gallagher said of Alphonsi: “She been out for so long it was great to be with her on the pitch with her. Her try was amazing.”
Summing up her own performance Gallagher told the Observer: “There are things I want to improve and I can really improve on. I just want to try and make sure that I put myself in contention for that world Cup place.
“I’m hoping to get a game against Canada to show again what I can do and do as best I can for England.
“I’m trying to specialise at No 6 at the moment, myself Marlie (Packer, who Gallagher came on for in the France match), and Maggie we all world really closely together to make sure we complement each other on the pitch – it’s all about doing the best for England and not being individuals and achieving that World Cup dream.”
Tries from skipper Katy Mclean, Alphonsi, Claire Allan, Ruth Laybourn and two from Kay Wilson set Gary Street’s side on the way to victory while Mclean added eight points with the boot and Amber Reed contributed two.
Head coach Street said: “We’re really pleased to get the victory, if you had offered me a 40-20 win before the game I would have taken it.
“We were particularly pleased with our first half performance, we perhaps eased off a little in the second half a little but we’ll address that in training this week.
“We put some pressure on ourselves to play well and we delivered in the most part. Canada on Wednesday is the next job and we’ll be looking for another good performance there.”
Article source: http://www.irb.com/newsmedia/womensrugby/newsid=2068571.html
England rugby joy for former Birchwood High School starlet Hannah Gallagher
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