Ask anybody about Meg Jones, and the response about her each as a human being and a rugby participant might be overwhelmingly constructive.
Forward of the World Cup remaining towards Canada on Saturday, coach John Mitchell stated she has an unbelievable power which rubs off on her teammates. Captain Zoe Aldcroft didn’t hesitate to say she is the very best participant on the planet and an “unbelievable particular person.”
As a participant, Jones has been excellent because the opening recreation of the World Cup towards the US. Her efforts, each on this event and the Six Nations, have earned her a nomination for World Rugby Participant of the Yr.
There’s an argument the Purple Roses are constructed round her, too.
A weapon on the breakdown and an enforcer with ball in hand, loads of what England have executed nicely within the final 12 months has stemmed from the work of Jones. She units the tone, notably if the chips are down, revving up herself and her teammates in equal measure.
As an individual, her braveness, outlook on life and, as Mitchell highlights, power, is kind of outstanding, particularly contemplating the non-public challenges she has confronted in latest occasions.
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Each her mum Paula and pop Simon died inside just a few months of one another final 12 months. When requested how difficult issues have been for her, Jones’ response speaks volumes.
“Yeah, in fact it is tough, however … I hate being the sufferer,” Jones says.
“I used to be by no means introduced up that means. My mum and pop would hate that, so I might by no means sit there asking for pity or sympathy and I’ve struggled to present sympathy at occasions due to in all probability the way in which my mindset is.
“I by no means need individuals to really feel sorry for me.”
It isn’t that the 28-year-old is robotic or void of emotion. Removed from it.
She has been open about her dad and mom to point out the significance of being weak and speaking via robust occasions. Jones needs to show to others that even the strongest rugby gamers undergo arduous occasions. But when talking about it may reduce the burden, it is price it.
“I am not saying there’s by no means unhealthy days, in fact there’s a great deal of unhealthy days, however there’s at all times good inside a foul day,” Jones displays.
“I believe perspective is so stunning and it is every thing my mum and pop taught me … Work arduous and at all times know that you will by no means really feel unhappy 24/7.”
That mindset is on present in the way in which Jones performs the sport. If issues aren’t going her means, there isn’t any quibbling with the referee or throwing up of arms within the air. It is merely onto the subsequent activity and the way she will dominate it.
It has been that means since she first picked up a rugby ball on the age of six, taking part in with the boys as the one lady on her crew till she was a teen. Jones was, by her personal admission, a troublesome child, and anticipating contact. She bought informed off whereas taking part in hockey for being too bodily, having to be reminded that it’s really not a contact sport.
Jones and her siblings used to wrestle: “It wasn’t fairly WWE, however it was fairly heavy,” Jones recollects.
It’s no surprise then that Jones was drawn to rugby. Enjoying with the boys allowed her to be her boisterous finest and get caught in.
“I used to play scrum-half with the boys they usually used to like how bossy I used to be,” Jones says.
“I bear in mind the boys had been like, ‘yeah, be sure you smack us on the bum after we’re in our maul,’ and I used to be like, ‘yeah, yeah, go on boys, stand up, stand up.’ Once more, that is the power I had.”
Jones epitomises what it’s to be a contemporary Purple Rose and certainly a ladies’s rugby participant in 2025.
Genuine and unapologetically herself, the barnstorming centre didn’t have many ladies’s gamers to look as much as when she was youthful. Now, Jones is embracing the very fact she is part of a era of gamers that ladies and boys will idolise and faux to be of their again gardens.
She recollects the second this week a younger boy was surprised to silence on the sight of Ellie Kildunne after coaching.
“He did not say a phrase and he or she was like, ‘have you ever bought a voice?’ And he was like… [silence],” Jones explains.
“These moments I believe are simply so, so particular.”
“You now have younger girls and boys saying: ‘I wish to be like Ellie, I wish to be like Meg Jones, I wish to be like Zoe Aldcroft. That is simply actually particular and I believe we’ll solely elevate the sport additional.”
