Abbie Ward: The 'wild ride' of becoming a mum in-between two World Cups

There is a different feel for Abbie Ward coming into the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup. She has played at two previous editions of the tournament, but this will be her first as a mother.

On the week that the Red Roses confirmed their squad to contend the World Cup this summer on home soil, Ward’s daughter, Hallie, had just turned two.

As the first player to benefit from the RFU’s maternity leave policy, which was introduced in 2023, the two-time selected World Rugby Women’s 15s Dream Team of the Year forward has been completely open about her journey back to the top of the sport and her desire to normalise playing sport after pregnancy.

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The 2024 documentary Abbie Ward: A Bump in the Road showed the Keswick-raised second row’s journey from training at 38 weeks pregnant to getting back on the pitch.

Through every step Ward has hoped to show other women that their sporting lives do not end with parenthood and that other nations may develop their own maternity and working parent policies so that her journey is not one of one, but one of many.

In the end Ward made her return to the field for Bristol Bears in the PWR 17 weeks after giving birth. Two months later she was recalled to the England setup by John Mitchell.

Her return has been nothing short of trailblazing. Inspirational. For her exploits she was awarded Mother Athlete of the Year by the Active Pregnancy Foundation this June.

So, to make a World Cup squad for England, as one of her country’s top 32 players, is all the more rewarding.

“Each one (World Cup selection) is incredibly special,” said Ward. “When you get towards the back end of your career you have a different perspective on it.

“I got really emotional the other day when we were at training, and they announced it. Particularly for all the girls who are going to their first World Cup. Having been to two, I know how special it is.

“For me this one is special in a different way. If you had said to me at the last one, that I’d go on this incredible journey, be a mum, fight back to play in the PWR and for England, and potentially play in another World Cup on home soil, I never would have dreamed that up.”

From the outside looking in, Ward’s return to the top of women’s rugby was seamless. But looks can be deceiving.

Because even though the 32-year-old helped England to Grand Slam success in 2024 and a second WXV 1 title, she was internally questioning if she could make it back to the top of the game after the immense changes she had experienced in her life.

That journey is not just isolated to Ward either. It is something experienced by mothers everywhere, albeit rarely with the glare of a rugby public falling on their shoulders.

“Mums generally speak about it almost taking two years to feel like yourself again, because you do have a bit of an identity crisis,” Ward said.

“It is the biggest change you’ll ever experience in your life, and you can be at your most vulnerable during that time.

“To combine all of that with still trying to play at the highest level, it was difficult, but I was lucky with everyone I had around me.

“Then, probably add to that my stubbornness and my drive – I think that really dug me out of some dark holes.”

“I have to step back and remember the place I was in last January when I was only four months back playing and thinking ‘how am I ever going to get back to that level?’

“I think I really struggled last Six Nations (2024) and what I struggled with through my pregnancy, because I trained the whole way through, is you have a slow decline and then a slow build back up.

“I can be incredibly impatient and have incredibly high standards. Which can be great at times, but I can also be my worst enemy.

“I definitely questioned where I was at. I did find it tough, but I definitely grew in confidence over the last WXV, and I definitely felt more like myself.”

Pictures of Ward and Hallie have become almost standard at full-time. After the Red Roses wrapped up another Guinness Women’s Six Nations title in the spring, television cameras captured the pair playing in confetti before posing for photographs with the trophy.

Ward laughs when describing the family conversations when it comes to fixture releases and training camps, as her husband, Dave, and her in-laws contribute significantly to Hallie’s care during the season.

There is even praise for the players who have already become de facto aunties, such as Bristol teammate Hannah Botterman and Amy Cokayne, who the two-year-old asks after on FaceTime when Ward is checking in on her day at nursery.

Just prior to the World Cup squad announcement at Allianz Stadium, Hallie was accompanied by her father to a training session at the Lensbury as her rugby upbringing continued.

“I have never seen her so well behaved,” Ward laughed. “She was just loving it. Dave built her this little fort of tackle shields, and she just sat there. It was almost like a throne.

“She knew that mum was working and let me do my thing. Then as soon as it ended she ran on. It is really special that we get to share that with her.”

Ward jokes that England’s tournament opener against the USA in Sunderland will be a lot closer to home (geographically) than most.

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The Cumbria raised lock forward’s own parents will only have to contend with a 100 mile trip to the Stadium of Light to see their daughter kick-start the biggest tournament of her career.

With the tournament being at home there comes a greater sense of responsibility. Not only does playing games on Wearside, Northampton and Brighton offer the Red Roses a chance to tour their home country, but to inspire more.

A finalist at the past two World Cups, she was there when the Black Ferns prevailed, once in Ireland and then on home soil five years later.

Only Emily Scarratt, who plays at a fifth World Cup this year, has competed on home soil before when the 2010 tournament was hosted in England. But 15 years on from then, women’s rugby has changed significantly. So has women’s sports.

On the precipice of the opening game, Ward has little to compare it to but knows that it will be unlike anything she has experienced before.

“I was having this conversation with Hannah Botterman the other day,” Ward said. “Because New Zealand was big, but we were so far away that we didn’t understand what was going on at home.

“I vividly remember Ireland (in 2017) and how big that was. When we got to the final, they moved ‘The X Factor’, or whatever it was, and that was crazy.

“We had this corridor of newspaper clippings of stories that were following us, on day one it was just one or two and through the tournament it just got bigger.

“2017 was eight years ago and this is going to be another level. It is going to be a wild ride. It is going to be so exciting.”

Ward was recently named in RugbyPass’ Top 50 best players in the world. View the list here.