Paula George: Firsts & Lasts
The latest in our series speaking to former England captains, Paula George recalls her first and last Test as skipper.
Paula George became the face of women’s rugby when captaining England. With a total of 75 caps and 30 Tests in charge, she was the first woman to feature on the cover of Rugby World magazine before the 2002 Rugby World Cup.
She began her rugby at outside centre but became a stand-out full back, happiest as the last line of defence and making line breaks.
Georgie to team mates, she grew up in a village near Bridgend as one of only two non-white children among 1600 kids in her school. Sport was always something at which she excelled and “At the time I was unaware of the fact that my colour was an issue for some people, that understanding came later and dawned on me slowly. I was trying to just fit in as a kid,” she recalls.
“Language is an interesting and subtle form of racism, as time passed I became aware that the way people used words meant that I was inferior, less than my white skinned friends and even my family, my white younger sisters. I soon realised that on the sports field I could compete and be one of the best.
"One memory that always stays with me is that I was described by two coaches as ‘just a natural athlete', but I wasn’t really. I was a bloody hard worker, I trained incredibly hard, even deliberately training on many Christmas mornings because I didn’t believe others would be and that would give me an edge. So for all that work and dedication to be attributed to a ‘natural genetic gift’ was gut wrenching and something I have never forgotten."
Team sport suited her energy, strengths and competitive nature and in her final year at Cardiff University she played both netball and rugby for her native Wales in Women’s World Cups and still managed to secure a 2:1 in Sports Science, majoring in sports psychology.
A gap year between her second and third years at university saw her at Canterbury Hearts Netball Club in New Zealand and she later determined to drop international rugby with Wales in favour of the more professional set up at Wasps Ladies Rugby Club.
It was there that England came knocking and just before she qualified to play for her new international squad she went to Canada in a non-playing role, running water bottles onto the pitch and holding tackle bags.
“I absolutely loved it. The set up was awesome and the girls so talented,” she says and then she was called up to start for her first England Test, covering an injury to No 15 Jane Mitchell in a match against her old team, Wales.
England coach, Steve Dowling, asked if she could play full back and was assured that she could and, with the training camp already done, Georgie watched every available video to understand the role. With two of the forwards tasked to look after her in any ruck, she emerged unscathed and went on to captain the team on her 34th cap.
First 9 January 2000 (England 41-10 Spain in Barcelona)
“I took over from Gill Burns, a hell of an act to follow, and I decided not to try to walk in her shoes but to find some of my own, you couldn’t copy Burnsy.
“Pete Kennedy told me in camp I was to be captain and I was totaly shocked. I didn’t really think I was England captain material especially as a full back where I could be a bit of a rogue player, finding space to come in and do my own thing and being the last line of defence, a bit of a rebel.
“After he asked me and the screams and hugs, I was sitting in the team talk in a lecture theatre thinking ‘My God, I’m England captain!’ Playing against Spain, rather than a team like France, it was very much a question of how well we performed and it gave me a little while to settle in.
"I pulled in the experienced heads early on, had senior players in different positions, which I needed as full back. I called them my spine, always talked to them in trainings and pre-match, had signals between us. I could certainly trust their skills.
“I knew the team would perform and what I had to do was make sure I earned the accolade of such high office, that was really important to me. I have always loved Barcelona and it was a great pitch, lush and green.
Three new caps
“We had three new caps in Nicky Jupp and Selena Rudge at centre and Jenny Sutton at lock. They needed to settle in but Rudgy needed no looking after she was a wrecking ball, though I had to teach her the words to the National Anthem the night before the match.
"The anthems were always pretty tinny and at a strange pace at away matches, with players trying to catch up but the nerves are there in the warm up by the time you’re singing the anthem it’s game on.
“We were a good team driving to improve. I think we won the Grand Slam that season but after the 1998 World Cup when New Zealand’s Black Ferns appeared from nowhere as goddesses of rugby and took women’s rugby to a whole new level we knew this was a whole new standard and we got our heads down. The 41-10 was a nice, comfortable result. Chris Diver was a machine on the day scoring five tries, Maxine (Edwards) bagged one as did Claire Frost.
“It meant I got over my nerves, realised I just had to play my game, that with the people I had around me we were going to be fine.”
Last - 17 November 2004 (England 41-3 Canada at Newbury)
“I remember that game at Newbury. I was very annoyed at being sent off because at the time I was just trying to get an opposition player to let go of my shirt. The referee actually apologised to me after the match. I’d never been sent off in any match or in any sport.
“I guess I was pretty furious because I scored a try about three minutes after being allowed back on. I know we expected Canada to be stronger, we had five other try scorers: Sue Day, Nicky Crawford, Charlotte Barras, Karen Andrew and Catherine Spencer
“That was my 30th Test as captain although I didn’t know it was to be my last at the time. There was some discussion with Geoff (Richards) later. He had decided it was time for a change but I would have preferred being given the opportunity to step down from the captaincy rather than being stood down. I very nearly gave up but decided my aim was to play until the 2006 World Cup.
“My last ever match was at Twickenham but playing in Ireland the previous Test I decided I was done. My partner Jo, who’d been a tennis pro, is a Kiwi and I loved New Zealand. I phoned her and said ‘I’m ready, let’s go back for the Lions tour and stay.’ It was time for other things and it was the right decision.
Content creator for the All Blacks
“Jo photographed the All Black for 16 years, including being their official photographer and I was with them for eight, and was their behind the scenes content creator including for the RWC2011 victory. We now run our company JOGIE & Co, where we have moved onto commercial video and photography, plus we keep our hand in publishing with about half a dozen books to date. The more often we work together the better things are.
“It’s petty busy, I also do social media two days a week, its’ not a Monday to Friday kind of job but I’ve always loved juggling things. And with our seven-year-old twins, Jacob and Taylor, the whole family loves sport.
“Taylor had her third rugby match recently. We try not to be competitive around them but she has a nice turn of pace, a good step and with girls and boys playing together she can’t bear anyone scoring against her and won’t give up the chase until she has their tag.
“I’m Jacob’s soccer coach and we are unbeaten this season. We don’t say that to the boys, of course, as the culture is all based around sportsmanship, but I know we are. Coaching Jacob’s soccer I missed a couple of his sister’s rugby games but when I get there I’m the loudest mum by a mile.
“If it’s England v New Zealand they know I’m supporting England. I have one of my rugby pictures on the wall and my Wasps and England caps but the kids made me get a New Zealand passport so I wouldn’t be in a different queue from them coming back from overseas.”
Picture credit: Jo Caird
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