Catherine O'Donnell (born 13 June 1996) is an English rugby union player. She represents England women's national rugby union team 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 (women's cricket) Loughborough Lightning were an English women's Twenty20 crick ...

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 The 2017 Women's Six Nations Championship, also known as the 2017 RBS Women's Six Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 16th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union ...

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 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 Championships games as the country won the grand slam. 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 between England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The 2021 tournament was given a change o ...

. 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

O’Donnell played for Waterloo Ladies from 2014, and was recruited to the England U20s team while playing for the club. In 2017, she signed for

, where she continues to play.

Early life and education

O'Donnell's first rugby experience was in rugby league, where she played for local club Maryport ARLFC near her hometown of Maryport and then Keswick, Vale of Lune. She played for the University of Liverpool 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-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

, graduating in 2019.

References

{{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