We’re sat in the plush bar at The Lensbury, enjoying thewarmth and relaxing in comfort. Immaculate lawns roll away outside with theThames trickling past in the distance. It’s a serene setting and a big change fromjust a few minutes earlier as we stood outside, fighting off the chill andwatching the Red Roses in training. Opposite me one player who received her 50thcap at the weekend and her colleague, for both club and country, in the frontrow. Vickii Cornborough and Shaunagh Brown take the sofa oppositeand before we begin I know, this is going to be a fun interview!
“I’ve been asked that question quite a few times this week”Vickii tells me, when I ask her how it felt to get her 50th Englandcap. “Going into last weekend I’d geed myself up so much that it was just thesame as every other game. I didn’t expect that much fuss, but within the squad,from my friends & family and even the fans and the rugby community… it wasreally overwhelming!”. Her family may not have been present for the game, but fiancéWill earned himself some serious brownie points organising friends and familyfor a surprise party to celebrate!
I have to ask whether she ever dreamed about wearing thewhite shirt when she was playing minis rugby in Portsmouth. “I didn’t think I’dever play for England, but having a supportive family kept me pushing on. Evenas an 18-year-old I never dreamed it could be a full-time job, that it wouldeven be a possibility. For the next generation coming through it can be acareer. It still gives me goosebumps thinking about it!”
Shaunagh’s route to rugby was a little different. A latecomerto the game, she has rocketed to the very top tier of talent with herimpressive all court performances. “I had my first half a season with my localclub – Medway Rugby Club. With my athletics it has been full on training, butthis was just once a week, I thought I could chill out a bit. I got bored andstarted writing my own gym programmes, then I found myself playing for thecounty in my first season. It was almost too easy, if I touched the ball itfelt like I would score. I joined Harlequins and that was my first full seasonof rugby, that’s where I met Vickii. She was an international prop, but just anormal person! She’s constantly on me to learn more, giving constant feedbackbut as much as she knows she’s the epitome of work smarter not harder. If it’simportant Vickii will know. If not…”
It’s a great example of the close bonds and family feel thatpermeate this England squad, throughout our conversation Vickii and Shaunaghriff off each other effortlessly, sharing stories and jokes and making me feelincredibly welcome despite their tiredness after training.
We talk about how the move to central contracts hasn’tnecessarily changed how much the players train, but has allowed them to do sotogether, and to not have to stress about fitting it in alongside a day job(though both Cornborough and Brown have careers outside the sport – Vickii inbusiness development for a cloud computing firm and Shaunagh as a firefighter).Working as a unit gives the England coaches something to think about too. “we’reconstantly improving together as a unit. Our whole front row, me Vick and AmyCokayne – we can improve at club and then it’s an easy transfer. Hopefully itpushes the coaches to make difficult decisions, do we want a unit that’s togetherday in day out or do we want to have a go with different combinations?”
“I was out of rugby for six months” says Cornborough. We’retalking about the work that goes on behind closed doors, that the fans neversee. “When you’re injured you probablywork ten times harder than anybody on the pitch. Although I was injured, and Iwasn’t involved in the autumn internationals I was at club every day rehabbing.Two weeks post-op I was back in the gym lifting weights. For my mental healthit was such a good thing to do, being around teammates. Shaunagh and the othergirls were off for the internationals but they’d drop in so I didn’t lose touchat all. If I wasn’t full-time I wouldn’t have been able to put that effort inor have access to those facilities”.
As the Red Roses get ready to face Scotland, I suggest theremight be a bit of banter between the internationals at Harlequins. “In generalthere is! In training during the day it will be internationals and a fewstudents so we’ll do games live England versus the rest of the world. We go ateach other constantly! When I am against someone I’m against them.” Brown issmiling as she says it, but it’s clear she means it too. “If you’re got adifferent coloured shirt on, when that whistle goes we’re not friends! Afterwardsthey’ll be like ‘oh you did this to me…’ sorry, didn’t even know! On Sunday, ifyou’re wearing a blue shirt you’re not my friend. We can shake hands and have acuddle after the final whistle goes, but until then, Vick’s my only friend!”
“We’ve got a couple of teammates in the squad” Vickii adds “ashave a load of the other clubs. Scotland have a good spread of players acrossthe TP15s so we know the Scotland players as well as we know ourselves. Thatfeeds into our prep for those games and helps us to build the England gameplan.If you know your enemy…”
“Sun Tzu! Know your enemy!!” Shaunagh interjects!
Scotland, and the other home nations may be well knownquantities because of the number of players plying their trade in the TyrrellsPremier 15s, but France are much les so and gave the Red Roses a stern test onthe opening weekend of the tournament. “In the past it’s been the decider forthe Six Nations so it’s good and bad. For entertainment value it might be a bitof an anti-climax, people will think it’s a done deal now, it absolutely isn’t!On the other hand it’s a test for us to try out new combinations, we did thatand we beat them, which is a real boost!”
Vickii is quick to add to the points her fellow prop makes “It’sa real testament to the work the Six Nations are doing building thecompetition. If you look at the other games played this weekend – Scotland vIreland was so close, there are a load of threats in that team we need to bemindful of any play to our strengths to overcome.”
“The rest of the competition is going to be difficult,especially Italy as the last game. They came second last year and beat France.The level of competition is going up every year and all bets are off!”
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