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MacDonald bidding for England spot after returning following ten months out injured

BY Sarah Rendell  ·  Monday Dec 23, 2024

Exeter Chiefs’ Claudia MacDonald says she hopes there is enough game time for her to “put her hand up” and show England what she is about to get back into the Red Roses side for the Women’s Six Nations and Rugby World Cup.

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MacDonald returned to the pitch for the first time in ten months after recovering from a neck injury on Saturday.

The timing of the injury meant she missed the end of the 2023/24 Premiership Women’s Rugby season, where Exeter’s run ended in the semi-finals. She also missed out on the Women’s Six Nations and WXV 1 with England.

On whether she is focused on the 2025 events, she told Rugby Dump: “Everything up until this point has been about this moment, about getting back and trying not to think too far ahead. I know it’s there, if anyone denies they aren’t aware there’s a World Cup at the end of the year and there’s a Six Nations before that and a Prem final before that then obviously, they are probably lying.

“I think for now I can start to think about that but so far it has been about getting back on the pitch and putting my best foot forward. I have a lot of development to happen still, a lot of match fitness to regain and hopefully there is enough game time between now and the Six Nations to put my hand up and show England what I am about and see if I can get back in there.”

MacDonald started from the bench for Exeter against Gloucester-Hartpury at Sandy Park, where the hosts lost 41-12.

The versatile back, who is capable of playing at scrum-half and wing, came on in the 54th minute and was a bright spark for Exeter.

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She added on her first minutes: “The game itself as a team didn’t go the way we wanted. We knew it was going to be a battle, Gloucester certainly brought that battle to us. I think we are going to learn a lot from that and hopefully go again in the new year.

“For me it was just about being out there. It was amazing, to be honest. The crowd here was incredible, I was so excited to run out in front of them and hopefully I gave them something to smile about at some point but just chuffed to be out there.”

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MacDonald, who says fans have been checking in on her to see if she is okay, has had long term injuries before but this time was “a bit different”.

“I had six months of not really doing anything at all,” she says. “Every injury prepares you for the next one in some way. You know it is going to be hard work and you train more than you do when you are fit and healthy so it’s been a lot of hard work but I have had some amazing people around me.

“Friends, family, my partner Cli [Moloney], physios and S&Cs have been superb and really looked after me. There have been some tough times, it has been really hard at times, but they have all had my back and got me to here. I am just excited to be out there again and play some rugby.”

Gloucester’s thumping win at Exeter means they move to second in the table heading into the Christmas break with Exeter still leading the way.

Elsewhere, Loughborough beat Sale 50-7 and it saw Sadia Kabeya start once again as she builds back to her best following her own injury.

Kabeya has been back on pitch for Loughborough since 6 December after her recovery from an ankle issue.

She has spoken this week about her physical and mental struggles with getting back to full health.

Kabeya said: “Mentally it has been pretty hard to see the girls go out there and see them playing, as a player and being a part of those teams, you want to see the doing well and I just wanted to get back on the pitch and bring what I can to that. It was definitely tough, but a good mental challenge for me.”

And she added on what advice she would give to any player who is sat on the sidelines: “I think first of all allow yourself to heal. I think a lot of time when you get injured your immediate thing is ‘I need to be back, I need to be back playing, I need to be doing what I love again’.

“But being injured is rubbish, you are missing out on doing what you love and your normal day-to-day schedule. I think allow yourself to feel and once you have gotten over that, set yourself really small targets.”

The other PWR result from the weekend saw Saracens beat Bristol 33-24. Harlequins will play Leicester Tigers on the 28 December as part of the London club’s Big Game at Twickenham, now called Allianz Stadium.

After that the league will return on 4 January.

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