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Handling nerves & speaking Welsh – Packer on Grand Slam bidImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Lucy Packer, who made her England debut in November 2021, will win her 44th cap against France on SundayByMike HensonBBC Sport rugby union news reporter and Sara OrchardRugby union commentator
There is a stereotype about scrum-halves – short of stature, big of ego, brash, loud and cocksure.
Lucy Packer doesn’t fit it. Not nearly.
“I don’t really enjoy interviews,” she says. “It’s not really my thing. But I’m getting a lot more comfortable doing it.”
She is getting the practice.
The 26-year-old and her quicksilver delivery are key to England’s hopes in their Grand Slam decider against France on Sunday. And for their ambitions beyond.
Natasha Hunt was first-choice scrum-half through the Red Roses’ victorious Rugby World Cup campaign last year, but the 37-year-old sustained a knee injury in the opening Six Nations game against Ireland.
A succession plan has been accelerated, pushing Packer into the spotlight. Somewhere, she admits, that isn’t her natural habitat.
At England’s team base, while her room-mate Maud Muir is downstairs playing games with the rest of the team, Packer is more likely to be upstairs reading. Science-fiction bestseller The Martian is currently on her bedside table.
“Maud’s obviously the more extroverted friend, we are opposites but we really suit each other,” says Packer.
Her social media is similarly quiet – a sparse 105 Instagram posts and little else.
Her focus is instead on a part-time master’s degree in neuroscience that she will start in September at University College London, focusing on the biochemistry of concussion.
“It’s a really big topic at the minute and something that I’m really passionate about,” Packer adds.
Grey matter is something Packer has to master on the pitch, as well as in her studies.
Back on the morning of 12 November 2022, Simon Middleton took her aside in the lobby of the team’s Auckland hotel.
The then-England coach told Packer she would be starting the World Cup final against hosts New Zealand later that day.
Packer, 22 and with only eight caps at the time, had thought her tournament was over.
She had torn her ankle ligaments in the last-eight win over Australia. She had missed the semi-final success over Canada. She was left out of the initial matchday 23 to face the Black Ferns.
But Leanne Infante, picked at nine, failed a late fitness test and Packer was thrust into the biggest game of her life at the shortest of notice.
Image source, Getty ImagesPacker found out she was starting the 2022 Rugby World Cup final just hours before kick-off
Packer was in such a heightened mental state that, years later, she couldn’t recall the hours that followed,, external her memory only resuming with her facing the haka at Eden Park.
Despite that frantic preparation, a heavily strapped ankle and a weighty dose of painkillers, Packer played well.
That extreme experience hasn’t cured her of her pre-match nerves though.
“I get so nervous before every game,” she says.
“I was very nervous last week. I’ll be very nervous this week. But I’ve also got a lot better at handling my nerves.
“The night before a game, I’ll go through our gameplan to make sure I’m really on it and write some focus points – usually three things, something to do with my passing, kicking or tackling – and that just really centres me.
“Although I’m nervous, I’ve got a plan in my head. I try to give myself confidence that it’s something I’ve done before and hopefully I’ll be able to repeat.”
During this tournament, she has been able to lean on Meg Jones a little more to lift her mood.
Like the new England skipper, Packer was born and raised in Wales. The pair will occasionally swap a word or two of Welsh, a reminder of home and family.
“We have just some funny phrases that no-one else really understands, but it really makes us laugh,” says Packer.
“She’s very good at making things quite light and I’m probably the opposite – I make it quite serious.”
There is plenty to be serious about when they face France in Bordeaux.
Given England’s home run at the 2025 Rugby World Cup, WXV’s sparse crowds and an expected record attendance at the 42,000-capacity Stade Atlantique, it is likely to be the most hostile environment the Red Roses have played in since that fateful defeat in Eden Park in 2022.
The streak of 37 straight wins England have put together since is in definite peril.
But, beyond her notes and focus points, there is something else, less easily defined, that bolsters Packer amid the stress.
“As a team we are all overly critical of ourselves, but there is a bond that’s really important to us,” she says.
“The biggest thing is how tight we are as a group – and that just really carries us through.”
Packer, her team and that togetherness will be tested.
But the scrum-half, book smart, street smart and quick smart at the breakdown, can pass most things.
France v England
Women’s Six Nations
Sunday 17 May, 16:45 BST
Stade Atlantique, Bordeaux
Live on BBC One, 5 Sports Extra and the BBC Sport website and app
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