(Sports Correspondent: Imran Sohail)
Abbie Ward’s Remarkable Return: From Motherhood to the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup
For England’s Abbie Ward, the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup carries a unique significance. The experienced second row has competed in two previous editions, but this will be her first as a mother — a milestone that adds extra meaning to her selection.
This week, as the Red Roses confirmed their squad for the tournament on home soil, Ward’s daughter, Hallie, had just celebrated her second birthday.
Ward became the first player to benefit from the Rugby Football Union’s maternity leave policy, introduced in 2023. The two-time World Rugby Women’s 15s Dream Team forward has been open about her journey back to elite competition, hoping to normalise the idea that motherhood and professional sport can go hand in hand.
Her story was featured in the 2024 documentary Abbie Ward: A Bump in the Road, which captured everything from training at 38 weeks pregnant to making her competitive return.
Seventeen weeks after giving birth, Ward took the field for Bristol Bears in the Premiership Women’s Rugby. Just two months later, she earned her recall to the England squad under head coach John Mitchell.
Her comeback has been both inspirational and groundbreaking. In June, she was honoured with the Mother Athlete of the Year award by the Active Pregnancy Foundation — recognition of her role as a trailblazer for women in sport.
Making the 32-player England squad for a home World Cup is, for Ward, a career highlight.
“Each World Cup selection is special,” Ward reflected. “When you’re later in your career, you have a different perspective. This one is special in a different way. If you’d told me at the last tournament that I’d be a mum, come back to play in the PWR, return to the England squad, and now potentially compete in a World Cup at home — I couldn’t have imagined it.”
Ward’s journey is more than a personal triumph; it’s a message to athletes everywhere that parenthood doesn’t have to signal the end of a sporting career.
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