Marlie Packer (born 2 October 1989) is an English

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player (back row / flanker) for

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

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 R ...

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 righ ...

, and again in the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup. In 2017 she also played for England in the

Women's Six Nations The Women's Six Nations Championship, known as the TikTok Women's Six Nations for sponsorship purposes, is an international rugby union competition contested between six European women's national teams. It started in the 1995–96 season as the ...

tournament and was part of the winning

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

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 ...

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 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 scheduled to be held in 2021, ...

held in New Zealand in October and November 2022.

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

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 Yeovil College is a tertiary college for further education and higher education based in Yeovil, Somerset. It maintains a main campus in the town and, at a second site, a Construction Skills Centre. In conjunction with the universities of Bourn ...

. Outside of rugby, Packer is a qualified plumber.

Personal life

Packer has twice been convicted for drink-driving. In 2007 she was convicted of drink-driving and failing to stop after a crash. In 2018 she was sentenced to a 17 month driving ban after swerving into oncoming traffic while almost two times the drink drive limit. In September 2020, Packer's partner Natasha gave birth to a son, named Oliver.

References

External links

RFU Profile
1989 births Living people England women's international rugby union players English female rugby union players Female rugby sevens players Rugby union players from Yeovil Bath Rugby players Saracens Women rugby players Wasps Women rugby players Bristol Bears Women players British plumbers England international women's rugby sevens players {{England-rugbyunion-bio-stub