When Abbie Ward announced her pregnancy in January 2023, the England rugby player’s excitement was mixed with nerves. Traditionally, female rugby players starting a family were also effectively announcing their retirement.
But Red Roses and Bristol Bears star Abbie, 31, would be the first player to benefit from the Rugby Football Union’s new maternity policy. And not only was she planning to return to the sport she loved, she wanted to be back for the start of the Premiership season – just 17 weeks after her due date.
Having watched new mothers leave the game, Abbie was determined to give staying her best shot. “I was playing my best rugby pre-pregnancy but I still feel like I could develop more,” she explains. “Men play on till they’re about 35, 36, and I’m hoping I can slingshot myself back into that form.”
As well as wanting to continue doing the job she loved, Abbie is keen to be a role model for her daughter, Hallie, who was born in July 2023, and provide for her family after securing a hard-won professional contract. “With sport, there’s only so long you can do it – you can’t go back in 20 years’ time,” she says.
Abbie credits being able to take on this huge challenge to the support she’s received from England, her family and the team at Bristol Bears – including head coach Dave Ward, 38, also her husband. “He’s an unbelievable dad, our rock,” she says. “
Cameras have been following her entire journey for a documentary for ITVX, A Bump in the Road. “I wanted to give an insight into how it could work,” says Abbie. “I was open minded about the fact I had no clue what to expect, that I might not even want to return. But even if it hadn’t, I wouldn’t have had regrets because I have Hallie to go back to. I wanted to get myself to a place where I’d have the option. If I hadn’t, that’s where the regret might be.”
With maternity leave in place, Abbie, Dave and the team made a plan ensuring Abbie’s training was safe and she wouldn’t do too much too soon, progressing through rehab, training, a return to running and eventually contact. “Gone are the days of pregnant women being told to put their feet up, but it was a steep learning curve,” says Abbie. “We had physios, strength and conditioning, nutritionists, doctors, coaches… Because when you look at the advice around pregnancy, it’s, ‘Don’t carry heavy objects, keep stress to a minimum’.
“I could deadlift 140kg before becoming pregnant, but the first couple of weeks after we found out they were saying, ‘we’ll just use one kettlebell’. Then we realised it was absolutely ridiculous.
“My team, all credit to them, spoke to every expert they could and we learned you can usually carry on whatever is your normal, as long as you’re managing it. We stopped with the kettlebells and I got back to lifting pretty much the same weights I was lifting during the World Cup.”
Incredibly, she was still lifting 140kg at 28 weeks pregnant. Still, staying fit while her capabilities dwindled was a challenge. “One of the toughest things mentally was, I’ve had injuries before but you know you’re going to get better. With pregnancy, I knew I was slowly going to get worse.
“I asked the coaches to stop putting me on the leaderboard for our weekly speed tests and jump heights because it was going down every week. All my stats now are compared to pre-pregnancy so they’ll say ‘you’re only at 90 per cent of your speed’, but I’m probably the fastest I’ve been this side of having a baby.
“I think that being able to keep up my strength, conditioning and rugby skills through pregnancy enabled me to get back out there as quickly as I did.”
After Hallie’s birth, Abbie found herself feeling great and champing at the bit to train hard – but the physios and medics made sure she didn’t rush it. “That was hard, slogging away on my own on the Wattbike or crosstrainer while the team were all out on the pitch. But it was worth it.”
She found a sports mentality helped her and Dave cope with the dual demands of work and a newborn. “Yes, there are tough times and sleepless nights, but once it’s over, it’s done. You have that mentality on the pitch – on to the next job. That helps with parenthood, injuries and life in general. Control what you can and the rest is what it is.”
Abbie successfully returned to the Bristol Bears in November, and kept her place in the Red Roses squad for the Women’s Six Nations 2024. Perhaps unsurprisingly, her story has brought some online trolling. “Some people were like, ‘17 weeks? A man would be back in one!’ Then you had others saying, ‘that’s way too quick, that’s not healthy’. You’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t, so you’ve got to learn to tune out the noise.
“Oh my gosh, being a mum, the amount of judgment – sometimes it isn’t even external, it’s the internal fight you have with yourself. Coming into work and leaving Hallie is always a little bit heartbreaking. But you’re the only person who understands your situation. The main thing is Hallie, and she’s the healthiest, happiest little baby. Do I care about everyone else’s opinion? No.”
It was also important to Abbie to show that while she was fit enough to return to club rugby (she points out that it took longer than 17 weeks to return to international levels of fitness), her body was still recovering.
“There’s too much out there showing a perfect picture. I wanted the documentary to be an honest reflection, and that includes talking about how I felt about my post-baby body, what it actually looked like.
“Sharing those vulnerabilities was the part I was most worried about, but also the most important. We’re led to believe we should bounce back – it’s rubbish.”
Abbie believes women should be supported to “do motherhood” in whatever way feels right for them. “It’s about you comparing yourself to nobody else. Doing what’s right for you and your baby. If you feel you can push yourself, go pretty hard if you feel ready, that’s completely acceptable, and if you don’t want to do that, it’s completely fine.”
Hallie is now nine months old, crawling, standing, desperate to walk and loves visiting her mum at the Red Roses Six Nations training camp two nights a week. “I feel so privileged to be able to take Hallie into an environment like that full of strong women, it’s so powerful.
“Rugby as a career wasn’t even an option when I started in the Premiership. When we went through the struggle to get contracts, I thought, ‘if I was a boy I’d be professional’. Imagine having a son and a daughter, one can be professional based on their gender and the other can’t.
“Now collectively, the Red Roses have changed that and Hallie can have that opportunity. I’m doing it for the players who are coming through behind me.”
A Bump in the Road is streaming on ITVX or watch it free globally through RugbyPass TV