'There was no headbutt': Exonerated Poppy Cleall speaks out

England and Saracens forward Poppy Cleall has spoken out in a candid conversation, giving her side a story that she hasn’t previously discussed in an interview, and her motivation to continue fighting for an England shirt.

Speaking to sports platform Contested, Cleall described the incident which ‘snowballed’ on social media after she was alleged to have headbutted an Exeter Chiefs coach in June 2023.

“I think fans see me as sort of tough, aggressive. I think the way that I play, it’s pretty confrontational and I think also in the last couple of years the narrative has been played around me sort of adds fuel to that fire,” she said before beginning her account, sat at Wasps FC where she volunteers as a grassroots coach.

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With exactly one year to go until Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 kicks off
in Sunderland, excitement is sweeping across the host nation in anticipation of what
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She continues: “It was Exeter away down in Sandy Park and we’re winning, we’re playing an amazing game and having an awesome first half. We’re piling all of the pressure on them and they’re sort of struggling to deal with our threats and how we’re playing.

“We’re going in at half-time and we’re trying to get into our changing room, the away changing room on the left, the home on the right. The ref’s telling the Exeter coaches to stay where they are, not come any closer, but the Exeter coaches don’t listen, run down the corridor shouting.

“We go to go into our changing room which is on the left and as the Exeter coach is coming around so we walk into each other. That was like it, that was sort of the last I heard of it.”

Harlequins and England player Connie Powell, who is Cleall’s girlfriend, shared the moment when they first saw the article that alleged that the Saracens player had headbutted the Exeter Chiefs assistant coach.

“First and foremost it was like panic because anyone [who] gets wrongly accused in the public domain for everyone to see, it’s really difficult. What made it even harder was then her [Poppy] not being able to voice her opinion,” Powell explained.

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Inspired by the women she coaches at @WaspsFC, @poppy_g_c is determined to play at the Rugby World Cup next year, and prove herself to England coaches – but has her reputation been damaged?

Watch here: https://t.co/qAKYfvJE7W pic.twitter.com/p8QUTuktjn

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She added: “I think she was just gutted because I think it’s really hard to be accused of that, and as women we fight so hard to play our rugby in a difficult space anyway that’s a male-dominated sport. People are paving the way so hard for us to have a big voice that to be wrongfully accused of something like that that’s then become so public I think is really difficult.”

The RFU cleared Cleall of any wrongdoing after an investigation, and Exeter coach Steve Salvin was given a formal warning about his behavior towards match officials.

Cleall was unable to share her story at the time, but spoke concisely to Contested a year on in the seven-minute long video which also features her twin sister and fellow Red Rose Bryony.

“The RFU did their investigation with five statements from players, interviews with the referees, interviews with the witnesses down the tunnel that completely exonerate me. There was no headbutt, it’s no grey area, there was no headbutt. I still had the cloud over my head, I still had the allegations, that’s what people believed,” Poppy said during the emotive interview.

She went on to open up about the impact that situation that happened last year continues to have on her life.

“Even now, people are like ‘Oh what’s your name, oh you play rugby for England? What’s your name?’ and then they’re like ‘I’m going to Google you’ and I’m like please don’t,” she expressed.

“But I’ve won six Grand Slams, four Premierships, captained my country, been to two World Cups and I’m like ‘Please don’t look at my achievements’ because the top one’s ‘Headbutted a coach down a tunnel’.”

Cleall made a long-awaited return to England colours during the recent WXV warm-up fixture against France and speaks in the interview about her desire to return to the Red Roses after she didn’t have her contract renewed, particularly with a home Women’s Rugby World Cup on the horizon next year.