As a World Cup winner, when Rocky Clark talks, you listen, which is exactly why the Red Roses legend has embarked on a successful punditry career.
Rocky was part of the England side to win the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2014, having reached the final in her previous two World Cup appearances. The former Saracens player is a legend of English rugby, winning an incredible 137 caps for her country – a record at the time – and Rocky’s vast knowledge of the game is what makes her an insightful pundit.
The highlight of Rocky’s 2023 has undoubtedly been working as a pundit at the recent Rugby World Cup in France for ITV, while she can also be seen on TNT Sports’ rugby offering. Had it not been for a school friend looking for someone to make up the number, however, none of that may ever have happened.
“I was 15,” Rocky told Fen Regis Trophies. “A friend and school asked me to come and play as the local team was short of players.
“I said ‘no, I’ll get injured’, and she said if I didn’t come along, they weren’t going to be able to play.
“I did two training sessions before my first game, and I absolutely loved it!”
Finding Her True Passion
Rocky was, and still is, a sporting all-rounder. Football, netball, hockey…you name it, she was into it. Even today, when you follow Rocky on social media, you will see her posting about numerous sports, rather than keeping exclusively to rugby.
It is rugby, though, that she admits is her true passion. Having first picked up a rugby ball, Rocky never looked back.
“I loved my sport,” Rocky admits. “I was in all the teams, like netball, hockey, football, basketball…everything.
“Then I just found my true passion when I picked up the rugby ball and it went from there.”
From picking up a rugby ball for the first time at 15, just a few years later Rocky would be selected to join the England setup as a youth player. In 2003, just seven years after first trying the sport, Rocky earned her first senior England Red Roses cap.
“I got picked to go with the senior team on a tour in Canada,” Rocky said. “That’s when I got my first cap at the age of 22.
“I was 109kg, so I wasn’t match fit, but they took a punt on me and it was amazing. I was like ‘right, I need to get myself sorted out, so I got all the help I needed to get fit and lose the weight.
“I turned my weakness into my strengths and I was one of the fittest members of the squad for quite a few years…I pretty much stayed within the squad for 15 years.”
World Cup Heartache and Glory
Rocky’s first taste of representing England at a World Cup ended in heartbreak, coming up short in the 2006 final to New Zealand in Canada. Four years later, that heartbreak would only be multiplied as Rocky and the Red Roses fell at the final hurdle at a home World Cup in 2010, losing agonisingly by just three points, again to the Black Ferns, at Twickenham Stoop.
“We started to get massive momentum being at home,” she said of the 2010 World Cup. “The media coverage was insane, and names associated with women’s rugby were starting to become household names, which hadn’t really been known before.
“I would have bet my house on us that we would have won in 2010. We had beaten New Zealand in the autumn before and we had been playing so well, but they did just enough to stop us from playing our game.
“It was another heartache. I had already had that pain once before, it was weird seeing all the first-time losers in the World Cup final go through that initial heartbreak.”
2010 represented the third consecutive World Cup final defeat for the Red Roses, so by the time the 2014 Women’s World Cup came around, getting over the line had become an obsession for England.
“We left no stone unturned,” Rocky said of going into the 2014 World Cup. “We had a new structure we were playing with and we added a few little bits that really gave us the edge.”
For the fourth Women’s World Cup in-a-row, the Red Roses reached the final where they faced Canada at Stade Jean-Bouin in Paris. This time was different. This time it was England’s time.
“We weren’t particularly good in the scrums against Canada in the pool round, so that was a key element that we absolutely went to town on.
“Ireland felt the wrath of us being a wounded animal and we tore them apart in the semi-final (40-7). I would argue that that is one of the top two or three complete England performances I had ever played in.”
The Red Roses won their second World Cup with a 21-9 win over the Canadians and Rocky couldn’t be prouder of her, and the team’s, achievement.
“It’s absolutely brilliant,” she said. “Sometimes I have to remind myself of that amazing thing that myself and the team have achieved because you keep going onto the next thing.
“I think it’s really important that we take stock of everything we’ve achieved and remember those amazing times.”
Entering the Media
There aren’t many pundits with half the success Rocky achieved in her illustrious career, winning eight Six Nations and seven Grand Slams alongside her World Cup winners’ medal. While the 42-year-old has also turned her hand to coaching in recent years, Rocky is now focusing on a broadcasting career.
“I love my coaching,” Rocky exclaimed. “I was coaching throughout my England career and I had a really supportive club that, when I wasn’t available at weekends, I had a number two that slipped in seamlessly.
“Now, I am passionate about becoming a high-level commentator and pundit. I want to be the best I can be like I was for England.
“I was the best I could be for a long time and that is what I want to do with my punditry. I’ve reached the highest level I can in terms of coaching, so now it is a case of going on to the next thing.
“The women’s game has grown through the roof and I want to be a part of it and help give it the coverage.”
By Aaron Gratton
