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England's Abby Dow announces retirement from rugby age 28
By Lucy Lomax
England’s World Cup-winning wing Abby Dow has announced her retirement from rugby at the age of 28.
She won seven Six Nations titles, including six Grand Slams, before lifting the World Cup in September with a 33-13 win over Canada in front of a sell-out crowd at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham. The wing has been one of the best to wear an England shirt, scoring 50 tries in 59 caps.
Dow has been without a club since leaving Trailfinders Women at the beginning of the summer, and with no signing news from other PWR clubs, many assumed she was taking a break from the club scene after the World Cup.
However, Dow has revealed she plans on returning to a career in mechanical engineering, having completed her degree at Imperial College London in 2020.
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Dow told BBC Sport: “I 100% could go to another World Cup, I could go on a Lions tour, I do appreciate they are big things that could have been on the radar.
“But I’m also so excited for different chapters of my life, I think I’ve given as much as I can in this form of the game, and I’m just ready for the next move.”
England head coach John Mitchell said: “I personally believe that we are losing arguably the best right winger in world rugby at the peak of her powers, but we fully respect her decision to move on to a new chapter.”
Dow said: “I just know that my professional career is done and I’m ready to love the sport in a different way. And I think that’s the joy of rugby, is that you can love it in so many different ways.
“It’s not just there for you just to play, it’s for there for you to watch. It’s there for you to be a volunteer. It’s there to be part of a family. I look at how it started for me when it was a family affair, and I hope in the future for me that it could be the same.”
Dow was ranked as the 12th best player in the world ahead of the 2025 Rugby World Cup in RugbyPass’ Top 50 Women’s Players campaign.
We've ranked the best women's rugby players in the world, from 50 - 1! View the Top 50 now
I wondered why she hadn’t signed for another club. She is comfortably the best winger in the world and that leaves a hole in the Red Roses line up. You could give her the ball 35 yards out with an inch of space and you knew she would score, leaving defenders in her wake or hanging off her. Now is the time to get Millie David and Reneeta Bonner in the squad. I hope the rest of her career is just as successful. Wow, what a player she was.