‘I didn't deserve the shirt’: England star reflects on personal redemption

It is no great stretch to say that the Red Roses left the best until last on the North American leg of their WXV Global Series campaign.

After back-to-back losses to Canada – the first of which ended their 41-game unbeaten run – John Mitchell’s world champions rolled into New Jersey with a point to prove against the USA Women’s Eagles. By full-time at Sports Illustrated Stadium, England had scored nine tries and were 55-12 winners.

While the emphatic victory provided a positive conclusion, the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 champions will know there is plenty to reflect on after a challenging campaign.

Much the same can be said for Claudia Moloney-MacDonald. A scorer of four tries on Friday night against the USA, it felt very much like redemption.

Dropped for the second Test against Canada after her performance in Toronto – in the 24-21 loss – Friday night was a lot more gratifying for the 30-year-old.

“My personal performance in that first game in Toronto was far from how I want to represent myself on a rugby pitch,” Moloney-MacDonald told  RugbyPass. “I know I didn’t perform very well.

“In a way, that’s almost a silver lining, isn’t it? When you get dropped from a squad, you can justify it in your own head. At this level the standard is too high – you have to be at your best and performing well week in, week out to deserve a shirt. I knew myself that I didn’t deserve the shirt the following week.

“I was super chuffed to get the opportunity this week, go out there and play in an England jersey again. Hopefully I deserved it and I put out a performance I’m slightly more proud of.”

Moloney-MacDonald’s own personal redemption story was part of a much wider piece of restitution for the Red Roses. Having been deservedly beaten by Kévin Rouet’s Canada side in Toronto and Ottawa, England needed a resolute response in their final Test match of 2026.

To emphatically beat an Eagles team that were on a five-match winning streak for the first time in two decades is certainly one way of doing that.

“I’m super proud,” Moloney-MacDonald said. “I actually got a little bit emotional after the game because we’d spoken about the response we wanted from the squad and how quickly we could learn from the last two games.

“That’s what it was all about: how quickly we could learn and how quickly we could put in a performance that we are proud of. We wanted that response to start straight away, this week, from the very first training session. That’s exactly what we did. All week we really attacked it. We were really unified as a group. To finish with a performance like that is just brilliant.”

The Red Roses will next play on Saturday 10 April, when they travel to Cardiff to take on Wales in their 2027 Guinness Women’s Six Nations opener. Going into that long break on a high will give the group plenty of confidence.

Coming into the USA win, England prop Sarah Bern spoke of the importance of starting their “new chapter” at Sports Illustrated Stadium. Which, undoubtedly, the world champions delivered.

“We spoke a lot all week about being fearless,” Moloney-MacDonald said. “We keep saying it, but it’s about being fearless, not reckless. That’s the distinction. That’s what we did. We just went out and attacked it.

“When you’re such a tight-knit unit, you know how hard everyone works for each other – it makes such a difference. I wouldn’t want to be in any other team. We’re a really hardworking, united group.

“I’m just super proud of how we all came together to produce that performance. It’s about proving [it] to ourselves more than anyone else what we’re capable of and actually, we are a really good team.”