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Hollie Cunningham: 'During that time there was a little bit of moping'
By Joe Harvey
Hollie Cunningham had to wait 218 days between outings on the pitch this year.
For the Bristol Bears and Scotland lock being on the sidelines could not have come at a worse time. After so many years of striving, she had finally made her international rugby debut and had the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup in her sights.
Then, around 60 seconds into her second Test appearance against France in La Rochelle in the second round of the Guinness Women’s Six Nations, she tore her hamstring off the bone.
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“I was in complete denial,” she told RugbyPass. “I had torn the tendon, there’s not a lot of feeling there because of the lack of nerves, so I was walking around the airport coming back from France like; it’ll be a grade one, I’ll be back for the last game.
“I had a scan on the Monday, and they told me it was off the bone. I had surgery on the Saturday. I was necking collagen repair shots thinking that was going to save me.”
Even after surgery that was a slim chance of Cunningham making her first Women’s Rugby World Cup. She committed fully to her rehabilitation and even got back running.
Until one day in a warm-up the 26-year-old tore her calf. That eight centimetre tear was enough to scrub out any of remaining specks of hope she had of singing Flower of Scotland on the opening weekend of the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
It was a bitter pill to swallow.
“When I found out I’d torn my calf, I was supposed to fly out to Italy the following day because the girls had a couple of warm-up games against Italy and Ireland,” Cunningham said.
“So I went, saw them off, wished them all luck, but then had to fly back to Bristol. During that time there was a little bit of moping in my bed. I knew that if I continued to mope in my bed that I would never leave it and it would become an absolute put of sadness.
“So I went back to Bears and just tried to focus on getting my leg back as strong as possible. During the first few stages of the World Cup I muted all of the group chats because it was just making me unhappy seeing all the notifications.
“I just tried to spend as much time with family and friends. It was never a place of not wanting them to succeed, I wanted them to thrive. It was just too painful to watch knowing that I could have been there.
“Eventually I watched the Canada game on the telly. Then I went and watched the quarter-final (against England) at Ashton Gate in person.
“That was nice, because it felt like I was in a place where I could share that moment with them, even though I was not on the pitch.”
For helping pick up the pieces in some of the darkest times of her life, Cunningham credits Bears teammates Meryl Smith, Jenna de Vera, Phoebe Murray and Meg Varley.
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A quarter that has had their own tribulations with injury, that support has proven to be invaluable and the catalyst to getting back out on the pitch in Round 2 of the new Premiership Women’s Rugby season.
“They performed a miracle,” Cunningham said. “Obviously it is not ideal, but my housemate Meg Varley had basically gone through the same, if not worse, of what I’d gone through.
“She knew exactly how I was feeling and there’s no pretending with her because I don’t have to. We have a little RTP (return to play) club called Bear With Us and they knew how hard mentally returning from injury is.
“The work you have to put in just to get back normal again is far harder than training and playing.
“I don’t think I can overstate how helpful the people around me were. They literally dragged me up from the depths of hell.”
Eventually Cunningham got the news that she had been waiting for. She could play rugby again.
With the dust hardly settled on the Red Roses’ Women’s Rugby World Cup win, PWR was back and bigger than ever. Almost every team had barred up during their seven month offseason.
Bristol watched on during Round 1, their first bye week allowed for an extra week’s preparation before their first game of the league season against Leicester Tigers on the road.
After the final whistle Bears boarded their coach with five points in hand and a 74-0 victory to start Scott Lawson’s tenure as head coach on a positive note.
More than just a win on the board, it was an opportunity for a certain lock forward to get back on the pitch and answer a question that had been bouncing around the four walls of her mind.
“Even a couple of weeks before my predicted return date there was so much doubt in my mind,” Cunningham said. “I was like, you know what, I don’t think I’ll actually ever play rugby again.
“The goal of rugby was so far off in the distance. The whole week building up to the game my brain was still like ‘nah, I don’t think you’re gonna be able to do it’. So, when I was named and even getting through the warm-up, I was like ‘thank the Lord’. It wasn’t even until after I came off the pitch I was like; I actually managed to lace up my boots and survive!
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“It was so great to know that this wasn’t a career ender. I don’t think the thought of it being a career ender ever crossed my mind, but the thought of playing rugby again was so far out in front of me.”
Ever since that win against Leicester, the going has got tough for Bristol. In recent Cunningham have been subjected to defeats at the hands of Saracens and Trailfinders Women.
On Sunday at Ashton Gate Stadium, Bears were brushed aside by Gloucester Hartpury 54-14 in front of the TNT Sports cameras.
Now into her ninth season wearing Bristol colours Cunningham has been installed as a starter in the past two games.
Reunited with Abbie Ward in the second row, getting back to winning ways at the top of the agenda and a trip to Exeter Chiefs is the next opportunity to be just that.
Currently eight points off the pace of the top four race, getting another win on the board could go a long way to sparking the chase for another semi-final. A knockout rugby mainstay since 2021/22, the standard has been set for some time now.
Trying to install a defensive edge to their effervescent attacking flair has the potential to be a game changer in the South West. That feather in the cap has taken time to bed in, but every week is another opportunity for things to click into gear.
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“A minimum standard for us would be getting into that top four,” Cunningham said. “I appreciate the table’s not looking too kind for us right now.
“But we certainly have a calibre of team that’s more than capable of making those top four spots. I think that’s non-negotiable.
“I think as well, we want to put on good displays of rugby. We want it to be a spectacle to watch. To score those outrageous tries. We want to showcase how hard we work through how well we play our rugby.”