Marlie Packer: Why she's not done with international rugby just yet

Marlie Packer may no longer be a first choice pick for England, but that doesn’t mean she’s done with international rugby just yet.

The double World Cup winner was the second eldest member of the World Cup-winning squad, but she is still repping out performances for Saracens, as they do their utmost to stop Gloucester-Hartpury winning a fourth consecutive Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) title.

Such is her enthusiasm for the sport that you suspect that her hand will be firmly in the air when selection for the Guinness Women’s Six Nations rolls round in the springtime.

“At the moment, I’m really enjoying my rugby,” said Packer. “We’ll have to see what Mitch (England head coach John Mitchell) and the rest of the Red Roses coaches decide and what they want to do.”

Packer has enjoyed a close relationship with Mitchell. The 36-year-old was his first captain and together they won two WXV 1 titles and a Six Nations Grand Slam, before Zoe Stratford (or Aldcroft as she was known pre-marriage) took over at the start of 2025.

As such you suspect Mitchell would welcome having Packer available to him for a while longer. After all, she was one of his vice-captains in the Six Nations and World Cup, and in her one World Cup appearance, she led the team out against Samoa and scored a try in the 92-3 victory.

The Kiwi also spoke highly of her influence on the squad, despite choosing Sadia Kabeya as his first choice in the number seven shirt for the knockout rounds. It was a choice that paid off. The Loughborough Lightning player scored the opening try of the tournament and won the Player of the Match award in the final.

“It is one man’s opinion for that starting shirt and what he thinks is best from the wider squad,” Packer said. “You could be a player who fights against it and not get on board or enjoy the role and the experience, and that is what I did.

“Captaining a team in a World Cup is a huge honour and I’ve done it in the last two World Cups. To go out there and play in a home World Cup and get the nation behind us, as they did and sell out Allianz Stadium, it was very special and I wouldn’t want to change the journey.”

Kabeya’s rise through the ranks is one that Packer knows all about, having been asked to run her eye over the Londoner as she was starting to make her mark on the sport.

The pair went head-to-head in PWR in early December, and while both players grabbed tries, it was Packer’s Saracens who got the better of Kabeya’s Lightning bolts with a 33-15 win in north London, not a bad way to end a weekend that began with an invite to the Prince and Princess’ Christmas Carol Service at Westminster Abbey.

“Sadia is a phenomenal player, and we have a really good relationship, and I want the best for her, and she wants the best for me,” Packer said “I didn’t see until a few days after the World Cup final that she did a shout out to me after she won that Player of the Match award and that means so much.

“I remember watching her. Poppy Cleall asked me to go down and watch her school play and train. Going down to watch that and now to see how her career has grown makes me proud, but she has worked hard for it.”

During the World Cup Packer was able to get out of camp to see her Saracens teammates claim the PWR Cup with a 43-33 win over Harlequins at their Stone X Stadium home.

PWR

P

W

L

D

PF

PA

PD

BP T

BP-7

BP

Total

1

Gloucester-Hartpury Women RFC

6

6

0

0

30

2

Saracens Women

6

5

1

0

25

3

Exeter Chiefs Women

6

3

1

2

22

4

Loughborough Lightning

5

2

2

1

13

5

Harlequins Women

5

2

3

0

13

6

Trailfinders Women

5

2

3

0

12

7

Sale Sharks Women

5

1

3

1

11

8

Bristol Bears Women

5

1

4

0

5

9

Leicester Tigers Women

5

0

5

0

1

It sent Alex Austerberry’s team into the new season in optimistic mood, and while they lost their opening match 40-14 against Gloucester-Hartpury in a repeat of last season’s final, they have gone unbeaten since then to lead the chasing pack.

“The start to the season wasn’t what we wanted with a loss to Gloucester-Hartpury, but there were learnings from that loss, and we took that into the next games,” Packer said.

“This is a competitive league. Every game, you’ve got to be up for it and make sure you put your best performance in once you cross the white line, because once you take your foot off the throttle, you’re opening yourself up for bad results, and that’s not our ethos. We learned from that game, took the learnings, and then put it aside.”

While Packer is a long way from packing up her boots, she does have an eye on post-playing life. Since 2024 Packer has been an ambassador for Prevented Ocean Plastic, a pioneering recycling programme that stops over 1000 tonnes of plastic from entering the oceans every month.

“I went to Bali a few years ago and the plastic on the beaches and in the sea was crazy,” Packer said. “We’re all in an environment where we throw bottles in the bin with everything else, so to be able to educate people, to make better choices and to recycle is important.

“The things we do now will help future generations and I want to leave the world in a better place. I want to make better choices, and I want people to make better choices, and I have a platform to do that on. It is about getting the message out there.”