Lou Meadows: From 'numb' World Cup aftermath to plotting the Red Roses' downfall

Almost a year on from winning Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 with England, Lou Meadows is gearing up for the WXV Global Series as the attack coach for the USA Women’s Eagles. The team the Red Roses started their Women’s Rugby World Cup campaign against in Sunderland.

It has been a whirlwind 12 months for the former England coach. She helped orchestrate the Red Roses’ win against Canada in the Women’s Rugby World Cup final in front of a world record crowd at Allianz Stadium before departing from her role as attack coach.

Meadows, who said she knew after 20 minutes in the final that England had it, also has coached GB Sevens in the last year before taking up her new role with the Eagles.

Meadows jumped into the sevens gig straight after the Women’s Rugby World Cup after feeling “numb” following one of the biggest moments in her career so far.

“Heading out of the World Cup, I don’t think I quite knew how I would feel off the back of it,” she said. “It was such a fantastic achievement and experience, the whole home World Cup phenomenon that it was, was so electric.

“I think when we came out, I was a little bit numb and I was straight back into mum life, which is great and they force you to get on with it. I just couldn’t get my head around what was next. I spoke to them [GB Sevens] and said I would love to just get into something and keep myself going or I feel like I am going to bend into the sofa. I needed something.

“They said at the moment the programme isn’t full-time so they were looking for [temporary] cover. It was brilliant because it was a really young profile of player that we had in the squad. They only just got together, they had barely any training time so I got really thrown into it. I had to think on my feet. It was a completely different challenge.”

It was at those sevens events where she got to talking to people “outside of the England bubble” about the future of her career. Meadows took Christmas off to think about her next steps and then the USA reached out about adding the former England U20 head coach to Jack Hanratty’s staff. It meant her time with the Red Roses was over after a four-year stint and Emily Scarratt stepped into the role she left behind.

Meadows has not yet had to relocate which she says has benefitted all parties. Her home life and children remain settled in the UK and many USA players now have a closer contact to the national team, as they live in England to play their domestic rugby in JAECOO Premiership Women’s Rugby.

Relocating is not off of the table with it a possibility when this four-year cycle heads closer towards Women’s Rugby World Cup 2029, but for now Meadows says the arrangement is “working”.

She added: “The players are enjoying the fact they get more contact with a USA person more frequently. I have also managed to attend PWR games as I did usually for the Roses. I take the kids as well so they are already starting to meet the players which is great. It means I can have eyes on those games and I can have those catch ups straight away.”

Meadows has already coached the USA through a Pacific Four Series tournament where the team lost against New Zealand and Canada, but beat Australia. The side then took on Springbok Women in a two-Test series which they tied 1-1 in South Africa.

The trip away taught Meadows that the team are good at responding to making errors and that matches away from home can be “emotionally, mentally as well as physically” draining on a squad. The lessons she has learned from the home games she has experienced in America are more focused on those in the stands.

She has noted the support in the country for the sport is “there to some degree” and that they celebrate “female athletes and the strength of those athletes”.

Meadows said: “They are celebrating them for the right reasons. We have taken a long time in this country [England] to get behind the athleticism and skill level of the athletes in this country, regardless of the sport, as opposed to the person off of the pitch or what they are wearing or how they behave.

“We are actually properly looking at what they are doing and how they are doing it. America has been doing it for a long time. If you look at their system approach it is athlete first. They build their athletes robust, super strong, powerful, fast, who are able to transition into different sports. That is what you want to see a lot of.”

Meadows’ year is about to come full circle at the WXV Global Series. She will have gone from coaching against the USA in the Women’s Rugby World Cup opener to coaching against her former team in England when the Red Roses travel to New Jersey in October.

Meadows says she is “excited” to not only test herself against the world champions but to see familiar faces once again.

“When I was there, it was quite cool, me and Sarah Hunter [England defence coach] would go head-to-head against one another,” she added. “She would try and shut down my attack and I would try and pick apart her defence.

“I guess it is now my job to go and pick apart the whole team. I am looking forward to it. I have seen a few of them around but it will be really nice, a great occasion for me to reconnect with some of them.

“There is a job to do first and even for the US players, knowing I am fully bought in with them as well, I think it is great for us to play against England. For them to really see how I would approach that.

“I could equally say I know this or that but actually England are smart. They will tactically adapt all of the time. I am sure Mitch [John Mitchell, England head coach] has some things up his sleeve because he always does. They also have some big games coming into when they play against us.

“It is about how I communicate and how we stay focused on us as the USA but know there are some things we can capitalise on if we get it right. Not to get distracted by the wrong things like I used to work there because that is irrelevant.”