Morwenna Talling demonstrates success of women's rugby's pathway as she targets World Cup success with England

It is a route taken by many a sportsman down the years, but the fact it has been mirrored by a 20-year-old women’s rugby union player from York demonstrates just how rapidly the female version of the game is growing.

Barely into her 20s, and just eight years after first playing the sport, Morwenna Talling has done all of that and more – including playing for England in a World Cup.

Talling started playing for the Under-13s girls team at Malton and Norton after she was taken along to her older brother’s training session by a mother and father who both played the game.

The fact there were enough players to form a girls team eight years ago at Malton and Norton RUFC was an encouraging indicator. But by the age of 15, promising second-row forward Talling had outgrown her local club.

“We were getting towards lower numbers which is why I moved to West Park Leeds where there were more people and I could get more out of it,” Talling tells The Yorkshire Post.

“Malton was amazing to get me started, but it was the right time to move on to a bigger club.”

Talling would travel for over an hour with her parents to get to training once a week, as by now it was clear there was no boundary on her ambition. By age 16, she was good enough to be presented with an opportunity almost unfathomable in women’s team sport just a few years earlier – move away to college to further her rugby education.

“I never felt there were any barriers against me progressing,” says Talling, who moved to Loughborough College. “The fact there was already a college programme for women’s rugby was a good option for me and there was nothing stopping me doing that.

“I could see the pathway into Loughborough Lightning (team in the Allianz Premier 15), which made me realise there was a route into professional rugby.”

So far so good, and without her realising, it was about to get even better. Talling made her debut for Loughborough aged just 17 against Saracens, a powerhouse of women’s rugby. She played so well it caught the attention of the watching England coach, Simon Middleton.

“I wasn’t aware I’d made an impression on the England coach until just before Christmas,” remembers Talling. “They came in to do some work with Loughborough and said they were really impressed with how I’d been going.

“Four months after making my senior debut I was in the England camp for the Six Nations.

“It was all a bit of whirlwind but I wouldn’t change it. I was in a class at college when I got the call-up, and I rang my mum straight away.”

Talling debuted for England against Italy on November 1, 2020, in the final game of that year’s Covid-delayed Six Nations. Two more caps followed that autumn and suddenly Talling had the 2021 World Cup on the horizon. Then disaster struck.

“In February 2021 I did my ACL. I thought then the World Cup was out of the equation, that my dreams were shattered, but when the tournament was pushed back to 2022 it was a blessing in disguise for me.

“The postponement gave me a chance that maybe I could make it, so I worked harder to get back.

“It was very exciting when I read my name on the list.”

This time, the whole family received the call. “It was nice to have a family facetime to share that news with them,” she smiles.

Having just turned 20, Talling played one pool game against South Africa as an England team including fellow West Park Leeds alumnus Zoe Aldcroft, Ellie Kildunne and Tatyana Heard made it to the final, losing a nerve-jangling showpiece 34-31 to hosts New Zealand in front of a world record crown for a women’s game.

“It was such a great tournament for women’s rugby, right up until that last little bit that we don’t talk about,” adds Talling, an unused squad member in the final.

“For me, just pulling on that shirt at a World Cup is something special.

“At the start of the tournament we made it clear that if we won we’d win as a 32, and if we lost we’d lose as a 32.

“Having lost that way when we’d put so much effort in was hard. Everyone is disappointed but already looking forward to a home World Cup in three years and the chance to go one better. New Zealand won in their back yard, why can’t we?”

By which time Talling will still only be 23, emboldened by her experience in New Zealand and no doubt making the most of women’s rugby’s expanding pathway.

“Ten years ago you couldn’t have foreseen a professional career, but now it’s an achievable aim. I just want to play rugby, and being able to do it as a full-time job would be amazing,” she adds.