Hannah Botterman: ‘I want to be the best loosehead prop in the world’

Hannah Botterman leans into the huddle, straining to hear the questions being asked as fireworks boom into the Sunderland sky.

It is a fitting setting. England prop Botterman has just put in a standout performance at the Stadium of Light, scoring a try – “there’s nothing like it” – beating defenders for fun and winning turnovers and scrums alike as the Red Roses kicked off Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 in style.

The Bristol Bear was a key pillar of the opening night 69-7 demolition of the USA. But she is far from satisfied.

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“I’ve worked really hard over the off-season to get into some decent shape,” Botterman says. “I don’t want to be shy about the fact that I want to be the best loosehead prop in the world.

“I want to cement that this tournament. For me, that was a good start, but I feel like I’ve still got a lot more I can give.”

It was a particularly impressive start for Botterman given the opposition. England were rightly expected to beat USA comfortably but the Women’s Eagles possess talent, not least in the front row.

American loosehead Hope Rogers is largely seen as the woman Botterman needs to overhaul to stand alone as the planet’s best No1.

Rogers was named at loosehead in the 2024 World Rugby Women’s 15s Dream Team of the Year and was also ranked eighth in the RugbyPass Top 50, 25 places above Botterman.

But there was only one winner on Friday. England enjoyed 100 per cent success at the scrum while ensuring the USA retained possession from only two of their five put-ins. It was a dominant performance.

“Obviously, Hope is a really good player,” Botterman says. “She plays really well in the Prem week in, week out. But I don’t want it to be questioned, if I’m honest.

“I think I am within the conversation and now I just want to push on and keep improving. Everyone can improve everywhere but for a long time, my scrummaging wasn’t the best.

“I’ve really worked on that and I think that is an area of strength now. Attacking wise, I’m happy; defensively I think I can be a bit stronger and chuck my weight around a bit more.

“I feel physically in a really good spot, now it’s just about putting the performances out there. But ultimately, I want the team to do as well as it can, and if I perform well within that, with your Ellie Kildunnes doing well, your Sadia Kabeyas, your Meg Joneses, if everyone performs then we put ourselves in a really good spot.”

Botterman says scrum coach Nathan Catt has had a “massive” impact on her improvement at the set piece. But has there been a personal mindset shift too?

It is easy to forget that Botterman – who only turned 26 in June – has been an England player for almost eight years having made her debut as an 18-year-old, against Canada in November 2017.

She now has 58 caps to her name but it is really in the last World Cup cycle, particularly under John Mitchell, that she has seemingly grown in stature within the setup.

“You always want to be the best in your position,” she says. “Before, for me, I didn’t feel as if I was physically capable to do that. Whereas now, I’ve put myself in a physically-capable spot.

“It’s just whether I can produce what I want to produce. The desire has always been there but I feel like I am able to do a bit more now and hopefully that has shown on the pitch.”

She adds: “Definitely [I feel] settled. I don’t feel senior, probably because I’m a big kid and get in a little bit too much trouble to be senior.

“They kind of creep up on you. I’m nearing 60 [caps] now and that doesn’t really feel quite right, it’s weird.

“But we’ve got some really calm heads in the team now and as a squad all together, we all have our own experiences in different areas and we bring that on gameday.”

Her performances have not gone unnoticed by opposition players, either. If results go to form from here until the final at Twickenham on 27 September then Canada will provide the potential opposition in the showpiece match.

Canada tighthead DaLeaka Menin knows Botterman well from her time with Exeter in the PWR as well as on the international stage. She is effusive in her praise of the woman striving to be the world’s best loosehead.

“I’ve scrummed against Hannah Botterman. She’s a fantastic athlete and she is a force in the scrum and you also should see her on the pitch – she’s a force,” Menin says.

“She’s an example of what modern day props are becoming. She’s agile, she’s fast, she is strong and we’re seeing that more and more across the pages.

“I think there was a sort of a uniform look of what a prop looked like and she’s an example what the modern prop is.”