Hann Humphreys: 'I hadn’t played XVs in two years'

If you tuned into the Pacific Four Series for the first time this year, you may have assumed that Hann Humphreys was an established figure in the USA Women’s Eagles pack.

Playing 234 of 240 minutes across the three games – those six dropped minutes were due to Hope Rogers’ yellow card against Australia – Humphreys was a battering engine of work rate for the Eagles.

But this was Humphreys debut for the 15-a-side team, stepping into the six shirt previously occupied by injured captain and heavyweight back-row Kate Zackary, and Humphreys looked impressively comfortable.

One of Jack Hanratty’s next generation and by their own admission, a fairly novice entrant into elite rugby,  Humphreys spoke to RugbyPass about finding their feet at the top level.

Humphreys was first exposed to rugby in the unorthodox location of Denmark whilst living there.

They returned to the USA, though prioritising a successful college career as an ice hockey goaltender for the ‘Big Green’ Dartmouth College, they delved back into rugby through its university programme.

A prestigious rugby programme itself, competing at a NCAA D1 level and having produced USA Olympians and National Champions alike, Humphreys combined an Ivy League education with life as a dual-sport athlete. It’s from here Humphreys credits the true start of their rugby journey. It’s easy to see, having to juggle all that, where Humphreys’ work rate comes from.

“I was incredibly lucky to start playing there, and to be able to join such a great programme,” Humphreys said. “Both the coaches, Katie Dowty, and Lisa Jackson are involved in USA pathways, and it was them and how much work they were willing to invest in me that allowed me to get as far as I have so quickly.

“I was one of those people, unsurprisingly, when I was younger playing sports that they were always like, it’s not contact, or like that’s a foul, or chill out even if it was a contact sport. So it was really nice to come to rugby and only occasionally be told to pull it back, not quite as often. So getting to express that and, I don’t know, there’s so much fun stuff about it. It’s a great sport.

“I love that there’s so many details in rugby that you always have something new to learn. If you like to do one thing, then there’s another layer and another level of detail that you can go into that you can get really really nerdy about those sequences and like, technically.”

Humphreys debuted for USA Women’s Sevens Eagles nearly two years ago in Dubai and has been a regular in Emilie Bydwell’s squad ever since.

Their call up into the XVs program has been a huge learning curve moving between the two codes. Humphreys glowed about the strength of the USA’s culture in supporting their development.

“I hadn’t played XVs in two years and I had only played eight ever XVs games, and I had no idea what was going on,” they said. “And instead of anyone making me feel bad, they all welcomed me in. When I couldn’t figure out how to do lineouts because no one had ever thrown me in the air before, instead of getting mad at me for being hard to control in the air, they used up their individual time to do extra reps with me, get extra lifts, on repeat so I could figure it out.

“Everyone worked really hard at making a welcoming culture that we all drove to get each other better. One of my favourite things about it is how good the culture is as a sport. I think it’s quite rare for a sport, not just a team, to have a culture like that. And now having played in two different countries and practised once in the UK with a social side team, every team I’ve gone there’s been a welcoming, like ‘come join we’ll teach you. Let’s get better’. There’s acceptance, and openness as a culture is such a cool thing to be part of, and I love that.

“I also wanted to add how excited I am for Erica Jarrell-Searcy’s captaincy. Even on just that first tour, it was very apparent how much she cared, and how intentionally she was engaging in leadership. She was very obviously engaging with, seeking advice, and discussing what we need to do to facilitate the creation of a winning culture that is fun and exciting to be a part of.”

Whether this is the masterplan of new head coach Jack Hanratty, culture seems to be one of the core tenets of developing the Eagles’ new style.

“He tells us that he wants to have joy in the culture. And a lot of coaches say that, but a lot of coaches don’t necessarily take actions intentionally creating joy in that culture. And I think he’s really good at playing it off, like he’s doing it casually or naturally and it’s happening.

“But if you pay attention, he’s taking intentional action to try to develop those things. And that’s really cool and exciting and I’m really excited to be a part of it and see where it goes.”

Filling the Kate Zackary sized gap in the USA squad was undoubtedly a big task. Coming in for your first XVs cap and playing 80 mins against Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 semi-finalists is an impressive debut by any standard and a huge endorsement by the USA coaching team.

Despite looking like a tenured player rather than a debutant throughout the tournament, Humphreys remained balanced about their performances and emerging role in the squad.

“I was very cognisant of the fact that I was in a development role,” they said. “I think I have so much more room to grow.

“As I get better at figuring out where I’m supposed to be all the time, I’ll be better at finding that extra work and inserting myself into place where I can express myself a little bit more.

“I was pretty proud that I tended to hit more of my marks later on in the tournament relative to the first game but I think that’s natural when you’re learning a skill, to go back as you try to get more details as you can, and express yourself again.

Referring to the opening score of the USA versus Australia match in Round 2, where Hope Rogers crashed over in the 12th minute, Humphreys recalled: “It was fun to do the goal line attack with Hope. I just put my shoulder on her and then take credit for being good. I didn’t push her.”

As the USA finished the tournament with one win from three, having fallen short to Canada and New Zealand, but denying Australia – who they came third to in Pool B in the World Cup last year- Humphreys sounded keen to keep momentum going for themselves and the USA squad.

“One of the things Jack really wants us to do is to try and find a new way to play, like an American version of play that suits us but also pushes us forward.

“It should be fun. It should be fast. It should be on top. It shouldn’t always feel like something’s set in stone with everything that we’re doing. We want to develop our IQ so that we can be making those in-game reads and I think there’s something so fun about playing fast.

“I’ve been incredibly honoured and lucky to be able to represent my country for both jerseys and get to play with and against some of the best players in the world in both version of the sport. I just wanted to shout out the coaches and my team, it’s just been so fun to play with them and so fun to learn from some of these people.

“Getting to be in an environment where I get to be up here and learn from people that are, in my head, famous has been really, really cool.

“There’s a tour to South Africa, so if I’m lucky enough to get selected, then hopefully I could keep working on my XVs and the more on my sevens as well. Always just rugby, rugby all the time!”

It’s interesting to witness women’s rugby national programs thinking imaginatively right now about how they can quickly develop talent and close that gap to teams like England. It’s exciting to see players take those opportunities and run, figuratively and literally.

Humphreys’ commitment to the sport and to learning earned them a standout performance in the Pacific Four Series, and introduced themselves superbly on the XVs stage. It’s exciting to see how they will progress in the USA Eagles side.