World Cup winning centre announces PWR club swap for 2026/27

Women’s Rugby World Cup winning centre Tatyana Heard will call Sale Sharks home next season.

The 31-year-old England international will leave Gloucester Hartpury – with whom she has won three consecutive Premiership Women’s Rugby titles – after nine years with the West Country club.

Heard missed the Red Roses’ 2026 Guinness Women’s Six Nations triumph with a leg injury sustained on club duty. To date she has earned 36 Test caps for England and started five matches at last year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup.

Her departure from Gloucester Hartpury marks a seismic shift at Kingsholm Stadium. A club whose domestic dominance was formed through the consistency of its playing squad, Heard’s exit is a significant blow.

Heard said: “I’ve always wanted to come back to the North and it definitely feels like now is the right time for me. I’ve been at Gloucester my whole career in the PWR, so I’m really excited for something new and to come back up to the North.

“I think Sale have got a really good thing going on and off the field and it’s really exciting to see. The team has been doing well this season and the club has incredible coaches, and I’m really looking forward to working with them.

“Michelle [Orange, owner] really wants to invest in the club and you can tell that both her and Katy [Daley-Mclean, Sale’s Women’s Performance Lead] are really passionate about the club. Everybody is invested in what the club is building, it really seems like it’s one club and it’s definitely something I want to be a part of.

“I don’t think the club is far off at all from really competing at the top of the league. I’ve been at Gloucester since 2017 and I was here when we were that team that were just missing out on those big game wins.

“A lot of it comes down to confidence because winning is a habit. Hopefully I can help bring that experience of winning to help the club get there.”

It has also been announced that Gloucester Hartpury and Wales prop Sisilia Tuipulotu will also leave the current league leaders. The 22-year-old will link up with Harlequins in the Summer.

Sale have confirmed the retention of club captain Georgie Perris-Redding, as well as the re-signings of Nick James, Sophie Benavent and Katie Childs.

Heard was born in Italy and spent some of her early life in the USA before her family settled in Yorkshire. After she represented the county at age-grade level, the midfielder studied her A-Levels at Hartpury College before attending Cardiff Metropolitan University.

She will join a Sale team that has enjoyed its best domestic season ever. Tom Hudson’s first season as head coach could not have gone much better and are four points from a semi-final spot this term. As other teams have a game in hand on Sharks, the North West club’s chances of making the last four are unlikely but not wholly impossible.

Sharks Head Coach Tom Hudson said: “We’ve made no secret of the fact that our next recruitment cycle would be based around three key factors: bringing Northern girls back home; signing world-class players in their position; and adding proven and consistent winners to our environment.

“With that in mind I’m so excited to welcome home Northern born, World Cup winning, world-class centre Tatyana Heard. This is a massive statement of our intent and it’s a sign that the best players in the world are taking notice of what we’re building.”