A car crash, ACL rehab and having a baby: Life hurdles overcome by Amelia Kolev

A Harlequins Instagram post has described her as ‘Super Mum’, as Amelia Kolev (née Harper) made her long-waited return to the PWR after 18 months out, starting at seven against Leicester Tigers in December 2025.

After excelling at the Loughborough Lightning AASE programme as a junior before bedding in at Loughborough Lightning for four seasons (2017-2021), Kolev made the switch to Harlequins in 2021 after winning four caps for England in their 2019-2020 Six Nations campaign.

She has earned 28 caps for Harlequins so far but had been absent for a prolonged period, after a complicated return from the cursed ACL rupture, as well as effects of a significant car crash in 2023 involving herself and her now husband. After recovering, she made her return to rugby for Harlequins in 2024, before taking time out to have her baby.

Kolev’s return to the PWR is not only a huge achievement of personal resilience but lays out bare some of the biggest topics affecting female rugby players right now.

The ill-fated ACL injury occurred in a Cup game against Gloucester-Hartpury at Cobham in September 2022.

 

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“I got surgery done for that on the third of November. When I got that done at the time that went fine. When I went back for my X-ray, there was an unknown, weird, piece of metal which came off from the X-ray,” said the 25-year-old.

“We eventually found out in December, they confirmed to me, that it snapped off during the operation and got missed essentially. They thought it might be attached to the bone, but I was struggling to get my legs straight.

“I was in a lot of pain and I’ve never been really injured before (Kolev had injured her MCL previously following the 2020 Six Nations and rehabbed successfully). I know it can be quite an intensive surgery and people say it can hurt a bit.

“It turned out I need to get a further surgery in February because I had to get the piece of metal out. So that pushed back my rehabilitation time quite a bit. I was walking with a bit of a limp and everything- it just added a double level of complication to my return time and return date.”

Following her return from an already challenging injury, Kolev was injured in a freak car crash, hit by a drunk driver in August 2023. The impacts of this forced Kolev out the game until 2024. Kolev’s resilience is evident. Despite a series of unfortunate circumstances her desire to return to rugby was unwavering.

“Even though it was a really negative thing, and it shook me and my husband quite a bit, you just become thankful for what you do have and what you do enjoy out of life. Even though some things will be difficult now, I always know that that passes and you just tend to work through things.

“The reason I do rugby, as much as I want to compete at the highest level and always be at the top of my game is because I enjoy playing. So just keeping that on my mind is another thing.

“I think by that point I had so many setbacks, I was like, ‘right, I’ll get through it. It’ll just be on to the next thing’. It’s just unfortunate. I can’t control every single aspect of my life. I could just control how I react to it.”

And that’s exactly what Kolev achieved. She returned to the team sheet for Harlequins through the end of the 2023/24 season. And at the end of that season in June, Kolev found out she was pregnant.

Whilst not unheard of, Bristol Bears have had a number of high profile players becoming pregnant and returning, Premiership level rugby and pregnancy is still not overly commonplace, yet.

The landmark RPA and RFU Maternity, Pregnant Parent and Adoption Leave Policy adopted in 2025 offered a new more comprehensive approach at managing elite female players choosing to have children.

England and Bristol Bears lock Abbie Ward spearheaded this new scheme, becoming the symbol for the integration of professional female rugby and motherhood.

More broadly, it signalled the shifting of attitudes towards how female players and pregnancy are approached in elite rugby, securing contracts and maternity leave and navigating training pre and post birth.

At PWR level, ex-Harlequins players such as Vickii Cornborough and Davina Catlin paved the way at Harlequins in the pro-era, with Catlin returning to play postpartum. Kolev cites this as a huge influence on her return.

“I think Abbie Ward, obviously having Hallie and then going back to play at international standard is really good for the game in general because there are mums across the league, I think we were sitting down and trying to work it out. It’s not common though.

“Obviously, male players have kids and they can carry on their career, it doesn’t affect them in the same way as women. Not everyone carries, but if you are the carrier of the baby, it can take a toll. There are so many different practices, if you’re breastfeeding or not breastfeeding, if you have a caesarean section or a natural birth. It’s different for everyone, and the return process looks different for everybody.

“Quins have been quite good with that, providing specialist checks and tailoring things. Going as fast or as slow as I need to go with it.”

Training routines and return to play have undoubtedly changed for Kolev. Remarkably, in her appearance for Quins at Leicester, Kolev was still exclusively breastfeeding on her PWR return.

“That in itself is a massive toll on your body, because anything you eat and anything you do goes to breastmilk. For example, building muscle or recovery it adds another layer. I can’t have too much caffeine.

“The time it affected me most was when I just returned to play and I’d bring him with me because he’d refuse to have a bottle which is stressful in itself.

“It was easier to have him with me, and the physios were so good. I’d have him in with me for a physio session, then he’d come in the gym with me, and the girls would play with him. This was before I was back in training fully, so I’d be with him during the day and then leave him in the evening after the team meeting so that worked really well and Quins were so good for that.

“For the match day, my husband actually drove him up and I had to make sure he was fed afterwards. And before a match, I’ll take him and feed and give him back to someone. But you know what, I’d seen Davina do it, so I didn’t think it was not possible. I didn’t think it’d be an issue. There are Mum’s doing it it’s just not highlighted enough.”

When nudged about future goals now she’s back playing in PWR, Kolev reflected: “I’m just going to do the best with what I’ve got and I’ll see what the outcome is. If can get back up to the level I was post-ACL, that’d be amazing, but I don’t think I really got back to my formal playing ability after that major injury.

“I haven’t even come up to a year of being postpartum so playing a Quins’ game, playing against Leicester, was a massive achievement, and I didn’t think I’d do it.

“Having him has put things massively into perspective. I’m less tense about things. I can’t control everything I can only do what I can in the moment.

“Rugby has really gone back to what it used to be for me, a release, fun, with my friends. Obviously still competitive but that joy is back which had been lost because of all those setbacks and hurdles.”

Players like Kolev and their visibility at the top level in the PWR are essential at ensuring future players understand that motherhood and professional sport do not have to come at the expense of one another, if that’s what they choose.

Postpartum mothers are trailblazers in every sense, setting a new precedent for the women’s professional game.

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