Marlene Marie Packer (born 2 October 1989) is an English

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player (back row / flanker) for

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

and women. She was part of the winning

2014 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup was the seventh edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup, and the sixth held in Europe. The World Cup Final took place on 17 August. All of the pool games for the World Cup took place at the Centre National du ...

squad.

International career

Packer began her international career playing for England in 2008. In 2013, she played for the England squad at the 2013 Women's Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow. She went on to play for the winning England 15s team during the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

, and again in the

2017 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup was the eighth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in Ireland in August 2017. New Zealand became the 2017 champions by beating England 41–32 in the final on 26 August. Matches were held in Du ...

. In 2017 she also played for England in the Women's Six Nations tournament and was part of the winning Grand Slam team in the 2019 Women's Six Nations, playing in four of England's five games. She has won four Six Nations Grand Slam titles with England to date. Packer started in all but one of England's

2019 Women's Rugby Super Series The 2019 Women's Rugby Super Series was the third series of the Women's Rugby Super Series, a women's international rugby union competition featuring the best-ranked sides. Unlike the previous editions of the Super Series in 2015 and 2016 which f ...

games and was awarded a full time contract to play in the England team in 2019. In 2020, an ankle injury kept her from playing in the year's Six Nations championship. 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. On 17 March 2025, she was called into the Red Roses side for the

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition by the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is the oldest sports tournament conte ...

Club career

From 2007 to 2009, Packer played for Bath before moving to Bristol in 2009. In 2013 she was named Bristol Coaches Player of the Season. Packer signed for Wasps in 2013. After England's World Cup victory in 2014, Packer was made an Honorary member of her hometown club, Yeovil RFC, and given the freedom of Yeovil. She returned to play for Bristol in 2016 and moved to Saracens Women in 2017, where she continues to play. Packer was part of the team as they won the inaugural Tyrells Premier 15s competition in 2018. In the same year she was also named the Saracens Coaches Player of the Season.

Honours

* 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup winner * 2014 Freedom of Yeovil * 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup finalist * 2023 England Captain * 2023 World Player of the Year

Early life

Packer began playing rugby at five years old for the Ivel Barbarians in Yeovil. She remained at the club for 13 years. She attended Birchfield Community Primary School, Buckler's Mead Academy and Yeovil College. Outside of rugby, Packer is a qualified plumber.

Personal life

In September 2020, Packer's former partner Natasha gave birth to their son, Oliver. In April 2023, when 3½ years old, Oliver accompanied Marlie as she ran out as England captain, to face France at Twickenham, in front of a world record crowd. Packer is in a relationship with Saracens and Red Roses teammate Rosie Galligan.

References

External links

Marlie Packer
at England Rugby
archive

Marlie Packer
at

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Packer, Marlie 1989 births Living people England women's international rugby union players English female rugby union players Rugby union players from Yeovil Saracens Women rugby players Wasps Women rugby players Bristol Bears Women players British plumbers England international women's rugby sevens players British LGBTQ rugby union players Rugby union flankers English lesbian sportswomen World Rugby Players of the Year 21st-century English sportswomen