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'We relish pressure': Rosie Galligan targets home World Cup glory
By Joe Harvey
Rosie Galligan feels like a totally different player and person ahead of her second Women’s Rugby World Cup.
To make her first World Cup three years ago, she had already upset the odds. In 2019, just months after making her Red Roses debut in the Six Nations, she almost lost her legs to bacterial meningitis. A year later, a gnarly broken ankle put her hopes of making the New Zealand tournament in doubt.
Making it there was reward enough, even if a heartbreaking loss to the Black Ferns at Eden Park. Now she wants to be an integral part of a team fighting to become world champions on home soil.
In recent years, the 27-year-old has established herself as a regular fixture in the Red Roses engine room. John Mitchell has regularly utilised the lock alongside Abbie Ward, as Zoe Aldcroft leads the team from the back row.
Over the past three years, Galligan has helped England to three consecutive Guinness Women’s Six Nations Grand Slams and back-to-back WXV 1 crowns.
“That first World Cup was awesome for the journey I had been on,” the England forward told RugbyPass.
“Now I think I am a bit more cemented into the team, grown up a bit more and found my feet as a rugby player.
“Mitch has really allowed us to be ourselves both on and off the pitch – just being able to enjoy life and do things away from rugby. That is really important to him.
“Now, I’ve realised that I’m working hard when I’m on the pitch, that’s what I need to do to be the best rugby player, but it is also the person I’m making myself off the pitch that’s as important.
“If I can bring both of those up and I can keep building on both the person and the player, that is only going to make me better.”
Just like heading into the last World Cup, England are world-beaters.
Ahead of this weekend’s clash with France across the Channel, the Red Roses are unbeaten in 26 matches. Their last loss, fittingly, came to New Zealand in that World Cup final three years ago.
Last weekend in Leicester, Galligan dropped out of the Red Roses side that subjected Spain to a 97-7 loss. With Mont-de-Marsan calling on Saturday, the 27-year-old is among the replacements for that final warm-up fixture.
Even with such a winning streak at their backs, there is somehow a different feel to England coming into this World Cup.
With the globe’s gaze on them as World Rugby’s top-ranked side and the expectation of hosting the tournament, it is almost like water off a duck’s back.
Part of that is the confidence instilled in them by their coach. At the World Cup squad announcement at Allianz Stadium, Mitchell played down pressure with a shrug of his shoulders and even claimed that the side would not be defined by failure if they did not come out on top this September.
It is an attitude that his players have steeped in since the New Zealander’s arrival in the job at the end of 2023.
“After the last World Cup, we had a few changes and he (Mitchell) just wanted to instil a new ethos and we have all bought into it,” Galligan said.
“Culture is really important to him. He’s a massive believer in culture wins, and I don’t think he’d have anyone in the squad that wasn’t on board that train.
“That is something we put first, but at the same time, we are such driven athletes.
“Obviously, we didn’t get the result in the last World Cup that we wanted, so we’ve had that fire in us that we want to get back and right some wrongs and go into this World Cup in a really good place so that we can be in control of our own destiny.
“Rugby is a game at the end of the day, and it can sometimes be unfair, but if we’ve done all the prep to be in the best position, then that is all we can ask for.”
There is plenty that will make this year’s World Cup special for Galligan. It being several thousand miles closer to home is a good start, but as of June, she will be going on the journey with her fiancé, Marlie Packer.
At the conclusion of intensive World Cup preparations in Italy, the pair stole several days together, and Packer popped the question. However, it was not always planned that way.
“She kept saying ‘after the World Cup’, ‘after the World Cup’,” Galligan laughed.
“There was one week when I went and got my nails done on a day in camp to chill.
“Then my hairdresser said she’d had a cancellation on the Saturday we were at home, and I thought I’d have to take that opportunity before the World Cup.
“She just said it was impossible not to take the opportunity, and I was out four hours for her to plan it. It is just the nicest feeling in the world. Another step in our journey.
“What’s really important is that we both know what is around the corner. The wedding plans have definitely not even been spoken about yet.”
This year, Packer will be playing at her fourth Rugby World Cup. The 2014 champion will miss this weekend’s game against France after she received a one-match ban for her red card against Las Leones last Saturday.
Removed from the England captaincy at the start of the year in favour of Zoe Aldcroft, it will most likely be a final chance for the 35-year-old to be a world champion again.
The underlying drive for success has commanded both of their attention for much of their lives, in their relationship, and now, a fortnight from a home World Cup getting underway against the USA in Sunderland, it is time to leave it all out there.
“It’s one of those unique things that people don’t understand,” Galligan said. “We probably go harder at each other than anyone else on the team if we’re put opposite.
“There’s no backing down in the fight. I think our peers respect that. We do our analysis together – we do a lot of things together to bring the best out of ourselves.
“We’ve helped each other get to this World Cup. It’s going to be a hard few weeks. The games get harder as you go through.
“We relish pressure and the opportunity to play on the biggest stages. We’ve all been following this dream since not fulfilling our dream in 2022. So, that’s hopefully what we’re going to do.”
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