Glass ankles and an iron spirit

Cath O’Donnell is a member of that rare breed who never has a bad day in an England jersey. For years, she has been part of an all-conquering pack, admired for her industriousness around the pitch and explosiveness in the tackle.

But next to world player-of-the-year Zoe Aldcroft, the potency of Poppy Cleall and raw pace of prop Sarah Bern, O’Donnell has flown under the radar. She has, as she puts it, “been in the picture for years”, but there is a graver reason why she has not chalked up more than 20 caps, and why she had to wait nearly two years between her 16th and 17th.

Born with a rare ankle condition, tarsal coalition – an abnormal connection between two bones in the back of the foot – O’Donnell is in constant pain. “Essentially, it’s a foot condition where my ankles don’t work properly,” the lock explains. “When I run, it’s really painful. My joints are fused together and they shouldn’t be.”

Until now, O’Donnell has never spoken publicly about this issue – which torments her on a daily basis and at one point threatened to derail her career. Just how much discomfort O’Donnell is in quickly becomes evident at England’s Pennyhill Park training base.

“Can we sit down?” she asks. “Just because my ankles are killing me.” I peer down at her heavily strapped feet, almost mummified in tape. We sit down and relief spreads across her face as she plants herself on the concrete steps at one end of the main training pitch behind the uprights. 

In front of us, Emily Scarratt is hoofing practice kicks towards the posts. One loops cleanly through before striking an unfortunate cameraman, which elicits a giggle from O’Donnell.

She is in good spirits, despite her discomfort. Her condition should have ended her prospects of being a professional athlete during her time in the England Under-20s.

“There was this big investigation into my ankles,” O’Donnell recalls. “No one knew what was wrong with them, so I had to go to loads of specialists until one found something. He did say to me, ‘You’re never going to play professionally with this condition’. And I thought, ‘Watch this space’.”

During her sport-filled teenage years in the west Cumbrian town of Maryport, near the Lake District, signs began to surface that something was up, although she would have to wait until she was 18 to have the condition diagnosed. 

“I kept twisting my ankle, which wasn’t normal,” says O’Donnell, who has never known another elite sportsperson with tarsal coalition, which hampers the ability to absorb shock through the feet during high-intensity exercise.

It did not bode well, then, with the rigours of full-time rugby – no sooner had she taken up an England contract in 2019 did she begin to experience excruciating leg pain.

She initially put it down to shin splints, only to be hit with a bombshell diagnosis after an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

“I got sent for a scan, which revealed grade-four fractures in my legs,” she says, smiling at the ridiculousness of it all. “It was from my shock-absorption. It was really painful.

“I got back after that and played in the 2021 Six Nations, but before Christmas last year I did all the ligaments in my ankle in training. Every single ligament in my ankle just went, so I had surgery in January this year. That was really tough. At one point, I wasn’t even sure I’d ever run or walk properly again.

“You don’t see what goes on behind the scenes, but there’s been a huge amount of work to even get me back jogging. To come back and get my 20th cap the other week was just phenomenal. I’m buzzing to be picked for New Zealand.”

Against the odds, she has learnt to manage the problem on a daily basis, meticulously following a diet high in calcium to support her bone health, a never-ending cycle of physio appointments and an individualised training plan. An unusually high pain threshold has superficially acted as an antidote.

“In the gym, when we do jumps, I’ll do less than everyone else,” O’Donnell says. “I’ll drop out of a few speed bits in training sessions – I have my GPS on, so that is monitored really closely – and as soon as training is done, I get off my feet.

There’s always a joke flying around the squad that ‘Cath’s off feet’ – they always think I’m chilling on the sidelines.”

Her passion for make-up has been a constant. “If you look around, no one [in the team] wears any, but I’ve worn it all my life, ever since I was 14, 15, going to school,” she says. “It’s what I do to get ready – it’s part of my prep – but the girls think it’s quite funny. They’ll say, ‘Cath’s got a smokey eye on game day’.”

She also credits Simon Middleton, the head coach, for seeing beyond her condition. “He really backs me,” O’Donnell says. “He properly understands what goes on, too, what I can and what I can’t do.”

Having watched her being put through her paces on the training paddock – England’s first training session as a World Cup squad – I pry further. How can this wonder woman hold down a place in the most competitive side in world sport right now while burdened by physical discomfort that her opposite number won’t have?

“It’s hurting now,” O’Donnell confirms, instinctively reaching down to caress both of her heels. “It’s worse in the mornings because I get stiff overnight. I’ll struggle to walk, but it does ease off as I start to walk. I have my load monitored a lot.”

She pauses, as if searching her brain to try to remember some other injury that has slipped through the net. “I’m not saying it isn’t hell, with all the pain,” she says with a smile, “but it’s definitely worth it.” 

If she wins the World Cup with England, it certainly will be.