Red Roses' MacDonald: Neck injury left me scared to leave house

England's Red Roses host Italy in York for their Six Nations opener on Sunday aiming for a historic fourth Grand Slam and wing Claudia MacDonald will feature for the first time in 16 months. She reveals a serious neck injury last year left her afraid to leave the house. 

In February 2024, MacDonald - who overcame a previous neck injury in 2022 - suffered a blow to her neck playing for Exeter Chiefs which left her unable to feel her arms and legs.

What ensued was 10 months of fear and intensive rehab until the 29-year-old made her return for Exeter in Premiership Women's Rugby (PWR) last December.

"I had a neck injury before that developed over time, whereas this one I made a tackle and the next second I was on the floor, not able to move my arms and legs. It was pretty scary in the first few moments," MacDonald told Sky Sports this week.

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"It's taken a little while. The first couple of months playing wasn't even on the radar, it was still trying to get my mind around what had happened. I was terrified to be anywhere near a rugby pitch, terrified to be anywhere near a rugby ball.

"I didn't want to bring my back off a wall, I never wanted to have anything behind me because I was just scared of being knocked.

"I barely left my house, I was told not to leave my house, not to be in a car, so that was all pretty scary.

"Thankfully we've got past all of that. I can't thank the medical team and the S&Cs (strength and conditioning coaches) around me enough. It was a long journey getting back out on the pitch. It's remembering how much I love just being with the girls, being out on the pitch and challenging myself physically.

"Since then I've just been throwing myself at club rugby, and obviously been incredibly fortunate England have not completely cast me aside and still want to have me around."

'I didn't trust my body at all for a while'

MacDonald, who can also play scrum-half, starts on the left wing for the Red Roses on Sunday.

When asked how she recovered mentally from her experiences of the previous 10 months, MacDonald said: "I think time, to be honest.

"It was just time and learning to trust my body again. For quite a while I didn't trust my body at all. I would wake up in the morning and check that I could move my feet.

"There was no trust in how I thought I was going to be the following day. Then time passes on, you realise you get pushed and actually you're fine. You fall over and you're fine. You realise actually your body's so much tougher and resilient than perhaps you give it credit for.

"I just think our bodies are amazing, to be honest. The scans always helped, when you can physically see proof things are so much better than they were. That gave me a lot of confidence in what I was capable of."

Mitchell: Red Roses' competition for places a 'huge advantage'

England head coach John Mitchell insists his selfless Red Roses are simplifying selection despite the fierce competition for places.

"The girls have gone beyond that stage of being selfish, which isn't always intentional but it can be if they don't understand how culture wins," Mitchell said.

"Basically we've got to use the competition for places to our advantage. It's a huge advantage, it's healthy.

"The Red Roses have never been a team that waits in my view. We've always been a team that looks to raise the bar early and set the standard.

"If you don't have competition and you don't have people chasing each other, how do you push and raise the bar? That's one of our advantages and one of the things we will stick to.

"[This year] starts with the end in mind. It's important to realise we'll need two teams to operate this year to play 13 Test matches. We wouldn't call it rotation. It's one team operating as two.

"The planning is very much around that and it would be stupid not to plan with that mind. So we've started with this team against Italy. It has an exciting mix in it."

Women's Six Nations fixtures

Saturday March 22

Ireland vs France, 1pm

Scotland vs Wales, 4.45pm

Sunday March 23

England vs Italy, 3pm

Saturday March 29

France vs Scotland, 1pm

Wales vs England, 4.45pm

Sunday March 30

Italy vs Ireland, 3pm

Saturday April 12

France vs Wales, 12.45pm

Ireland vs England, 4.45pm

Sunday April 13

Scotland vs Italy, 3pm

Saturday April 19

Italy vs France, 1pm

England vs Scotland, 4.45pm

Sunday April 20

Wales vs Ireland, 3pm

Saturday April 26

Italy vs Wales, 12.15pm

Scotland vs Ireland, 2.30pm

England vs France, 4.45pm