Catherine Mary O'Donnell (born 13 June 1996) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

rugby union player and model. She represents

England women's national rugby union team The England women's national rugby union team, commonly known as the Red Roses, represents England in women's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Women's Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales ...

internationally and plays for

Loughborough Lightning Loughborough Lightning may refer to one of three women's sports teams based at Loughborough University: * Loughborough Lightning (netball) * Loughborough Lightning (cricket) * Loughborough Lightning (rugby union) {{disambiguation ...

Early and personal life

O'Donnell's first rugby experience was in rugby league, where she played for local club Maryport ARLFC near her hometown of

Maryport Maryport is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is on the coast of the Solway Firth and lies at the northern end of the former Cumberland Co ...

and then Keswick, Vale of Lune. She played for the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

as a student and she was named their athlete of the year for the 2015/16 season. O'Donnell then went to study for a Master's degree in Business Psychology at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

, graduating in 2019.

Club career

O'Donnell played for

Waterloo Ladies Waterloo Ladies Rugby Football Club, known for sponsorship reasons as Firwood Waterloo Ladies Rugby Football Club, is a women's rugby union club based in Blundellsands, Merseyside, England. They are the women's team of Waterloo FC. They were estab ...

from 2014, and was recruited to the England U20s team while playing for the club. In 2017, she signed for

International career

O'Donnell made her England debut against Canada in November 2017. In February 2018, she was brought on in the 2017 Women's Six Nations Championship as a replacement against Scotland and again versus Ireland. She scored her first international try in England's 37-15 win over Ireland at

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium (; usually known as Twickenham, and for sponsorship purposes known as the Allianz Stadium Twickenham) is a rugby union stadium in Twickenham, London, England. It is owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the English rugby u ...

in 2018 as part of the 2018 Quilter Internationals. In 2019 she was awarded a full-time professional England contract. She started in four of England's five

2019 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2019 Women's Six Nations Championship was the 18th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition featuring six European rugby union national teams. Matches were held in February and March 2019, on the ...

s games as the country won the

grand slam Grand Slam or Grand slam may refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category terminology originating in contract bridge and other whist card games Athletics * Grand Slam Track, professional track and field league Auto racing * ...

. She went on to start all but one of England's Super Series fixtures in San Diego in 2019. After the 2019 season, O'Donnell discovered she had fractured her shins and was absent from international rugby until April 2021, when she returned for the

2021 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2021 Women's Six Nations Championship was the 20th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition featuring England women's national rugby union team, England, France women's national rugby union te ...

. She was named in the England squad for the delayed

2021 Rugby World Cup The 2021 Rugby World Cup was the ninth staging of the Rugby World Cup (women), women's Rugby World Cup, as organised by World Rugby. It was held from 8 October to 12 November 2022 in Auckland and Whangārei, New Zealand. It was originally sche ...

held in New Zealand in October and November 2022.

References

External links

Catherine O'Donnell
at England Rugby
Catherine O'Donnell
at

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:ODonnell, Catherine 1996 births Living people Alumni of the University of Liverpool England women's international rugby union players English female rugby union players Rugby union players from Carlisle, Cumbria Loughborough Lightning rugby union players Alumni of Loughborough University Rugby union locks 21st-century English sportswomen