Charlie Woodman: Wearing the number one shirt in homage to her father

It was not long ago that Charlie Woodman was thinking about walking away from rugby entirely. A year on and her outlook is much different.

In those 12 months away the 27-year-old travelled the world, played in Super Rugby Aupiki, has represented the same club as her Rugby World Cup winning father and is now playing in HSBC SVNS in Gisele Mather’s GB Rugby Sevens squad.

“When I left England, I wasn’t really sure whether I wanted to continue playing and wasn’t sure whether I had the right pathway ahead of me,” Woodman said.

“I had two years at Exeter Chiefs, where I dabbled in a couple of Cup games, I think one or two PWR games and I didn’t really get much coaching, and it didn’t feel like I was improving myself hugely.

“You sort of end up losing the love for it when all you’re doing is training three days a week, rather than getting the joy of being part of game day.

“That definitely took its toll after a little while. I just really got to the point where I was starting to lose my love for rugby.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Charlie Woodman (@charlottewoodman)

On the hunt for a fresh start Woodman flew to the other side of the world. Travelling to Australia and then New Zealand, the 27-year-old had not planned to play rugby while in New Zealand. However, a chance encounter with Whitney Hansen, head coach of Super Rugby Aupiki’s Matat? and daughter of Rugby World Cup winning coach, Steve, changed her plans.

Joining the reigning Super Rugby Aupiki champions Woodman was able to spark her love for rugby back to life in the rugby rich surroundings of New Zealand.

“She got me into a few training sessions, out-of-season stuff, a few skill sessions for Black Ferns girls that lived in the area,” Woodman said. “I was contracted with them under the Super Rugby season, it was paid enough that it was full-time. Being able to just put your heart and soul into it made a huge difference.

“You see yourself getting better and you’re not turning up to training slightly under-fuelled or tired from work.”

Woodman jokes that she will probably emigrate long-term in the future. For now her mind is occupied by representing GB in HSBC SVNS and representing her country at the 2028 Olympic Games. Despite her aspirations sevens was never something that Woodman had taken wholly seriously before.

Playing for a number of invitational teams over the years, her return to form in New Zealand brought its admirers. Whether it was the raw speed that saw her represent North Devon and West Buckland School in the 100m and 200m or her natural height, Woodman had to decide whether to stay in New Zealand or take the gamble and come back to the UK.

“I had a few conversations with Ciaran Beattie (current GB Rugby Sevens Programme Lead), and he invited me to a Rugby Europe competition in Croatia,” Woodman explained.

“It was a case of whether I left New Zealand and give it my all, give GB a shot or say no and not bother. I decided I’ve got to take the bull by the horns, give it a go, so I flew back.

“I’d actually been in a moon boot only a week before because I broke my foot in Super Rugby, so I fast-tracked my rehab as much as I could and a week being out of my moon boot, I was playing in Croatia.

“Off the back of that they offered me my contract. It all came around after throwing myself out there to be honest.”

On her return home Woodman had to find somewhere to live. Eventually opting to live with her father, Trevor, the 27-year-old did not know what was around the corner. Renowned for his role in England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup win as Sir Clive Woodward’s starting loosehead prop, the 48-year-old played for Gloucester between 1996 and 2004, and became synonymous with the Cherry and Whites.

Since 2014 Trevor has concerned himself with Gloucester Rugby’s forward pack. With Gloucester-Hartpury about to start a new season, the club was on the hunt for additional cover on the wing. In truth, it was an easy sell.

“I think James Forrester’s (Gloucester-Hartpury) words were ‘it would be great to have two Woodman’s at the club’,” Woodman said.

That family feel only intensified. When Woodman scored her first try for the club against Leicester Tigers at Kingsholm in October, she touched down in the same corner that her father scored his most famous Gloucester try 21 years prior.

In the aftermath of his daughter’s score, Woodman has since branded that part of grass ‘Woodman Corner’ as his pride overflowed.

But if representing the same club was not enough, when Woodman made her long-awaited GB debut in Perth she unveiled that she will don the No.1 jersey in homage to her father.

“I saw that ‘1’ had come up, and I was like, perfect,” Woodman said. “We’ve got dad’s England Rugby World Cup final shirt up on the wall at home and I just thought it’d be a pretty cool thing.

“He just thought it was brilliant. Even now, GB have given us water bottles and it’s got ‘Woodman 1’ on it, and he’s tried to claim that as his own now.”

When her rugby started to hit new heights in New Zealand, Trevor began to take a keener interest in his daughter’s exploits and spent hours clipping up match footage with analysis.

“I have told him to hold back sometimes on sending me clips,” Woodman laughed. That can get tiring, but he is hugely supportive.

“He’s learned to pick his time with it now. When I was in New Zealand he downloaded the game in England, clipped up bits and said, ‘you should have done this, you could have done that’. He’s worked on his timing now.”

In December, Woodman took the decision to step away from her Gloucester-Hartpury commitments to focus on representing GB and her full-time medical device sales job. It is a move that quickly paid off with her selection for Giselle Mather’s squad that went to Perth.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Charlie Woodman (@charlottewoodman)

That trip to Western Australia has provided Woodman and her teammates with plenty to think over. After scraping through the pool stage the team were knocked out of the Cup quarter-finals by Argentina and ultimately finished fourth.

Grouped with Fiji, France and Japan this weekend in Vancouver the team start their latest campaign as the Series hits halfway.

“We don’t want to feel like we did on day three of Perth,” Woodman said. “We know that we can do an awful lot better. In the camps that we’ve had since, the level’s really just pushed up and everyone is really dialled in. I think it is a case of getting everybody’s potential out of them instead of falling short.”