Red Roses legend Emily Scarratt set for fifth Rugby World Cup in 2025
Discover Emily Scarratt’s inspiring journey as she joins the Red Roses squad for a record fifth Rugby World Cup in 2025 and explore her career highlights ahead of the historic home tournament.
Emily Scarratt is set to become the first England player to compete at five World Cups after being named in John Mitchell’s 32-player squad for next month’s home tournament.
The 35-year-old is the highest ever England Women’s points scorer and boasts 118 caps, putting her third on the list of all-time England Women appearances, behind Rocky Clark (137) and current Red Roses defence coach Sarah Hunter (141).
However, Scarratt, who plays for PWR side Loughborough Lightning, is less concerned with personal accolades and says she is simply relishing the chance to represent her country once more.
She said: “I didn’t actually know I was the first England player to do that until I was told! But it’s obviously super cool.
“It’s never something you set out to achieve – you have no idea how many opportunities you might get to wear the shirt, let alone represent the team at World Cups. You just want to be involved in everything.
“It hasn’t always been an easy road, but I guess it’s about being able to stay fit and healthy at the right times.”
Overcoming injuries to reach the World Cup
Despite the longevity of her career, getting to the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup has not been a simple task for the centre.
After suffering a serious neck injury in 2023, she underwent surgery and missed the inaugural WXV1 tournament and England’s successful Women's Six Nations campaign the same year.
Having endured a 13-month lay-off period and facing potential early retirement, she was immensely grateful to return to the England setup that she has been part of for so long.
“Putting the white shirt on after that time was really special. With the nature of the injury, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do that again, so when you do you feel quite free.
“Coming back into a squad that had continued to develop over the time I hadn’t played for was awesome. In a strange way, it felt like a second chance.”
Scarratt sees growth of women's rugby
While she is excited for this year’s tournament to be held in England, it is not Scarratt’s first time at a home Women's Rugby World Cup. She featured heavily as a 20-year-old in the Red Roses’ 2010 campaign that culminated in a narrow 13-10 loss to New Zealand in the final at Twickenham Stoop.
Although it was not the desired result for England, Scarratt is encouraged by the game’s increased profile 15 years on and feels that next month’s Rugby World Cup is an opportunity to build on this progress further.
“The change in women’s rugby since 2010 has been massive. Visibility and participation have skyrocketed.
“If you go incrementally through all the World Cups since then – 2014, 2017 and 2021 – the change has been amazing. We’ve seen that in the Six Nations in terms of the size of crowds, in terms of media and the amount of people competing in grassroots rugby.
“It’s definitely been on a massively increasing curve, and hopefully that continues.”
Opportunity comes knocking
The last time England lifted the Rugby World Cup trophy was in 2014, with Scarratt herself playing a crucial role, scoring 16 points and a sensational late try in the final against Canada to steer her side home.
The Red Roses have been finalists in both World Cups since, but were not able to defeat old foes New Zealand on either occasion.
Despite the frustration of having lost three finals to the Black Ferns, Scarratt is focused on England and what they can achieve as a squad.
“I never see things as righting a wrong, I just see it as another opportunity. I love sport because you never know what you’re going to get.
“There have been World Cups along the way where we’ve gone in as favourites and not quite been able to do the job. Obviously, we want to come away with the ultimate prize this year, and being at home adds a bit more excitement to that.
“But what a cool opportunity we have to showcase women’s rugby, women’s sport and us as Red Roses to the whole country.”
Head coach Mitchell was also full of praise for the experienced centre, saying Scarratt was included in his squad not just for her immense ability, but also her qualities as a leader.
He said: “Emily brings more than just experience. She understands the legacy of the Red Roses and brings leadership to the younger players.
“She’s very calm in demeanour and just leads by example. She wants to leave the Red Roses in a better place.”
Before starting their 2025 World Cup campaign, England's Red Roses play Spain at Leicester's Mattioli Woods Welford Road in a warm-up match on Saturday 2 August with tickets still available to purchase. They then travel to Mont-de-Marsan to play France the following week.
