Georgie Perris-Redding to co-captain US Eagles against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday
Georgie Perris-Redding will run out as co-captain of the US Eagles against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday, having risen from grassroots rugby in Cheshire to international leadership with the United States.
Born in Detroit and raised playing at Crewe & Nantwich RUFC, Perris-Redding now plays for Sale and made a 4,300-mile trip to Little Rock, Arkansas, five years ago to join the American Rugby Professional Training Center; the ARPTC was the brainchild of former Eagle and Eagles coach Julie McCoy and entrepreneur Tania Hahn and ran for seven years as a high-performance hub. Perris-Redding said the move came after Sale’s early years left players “paid a match fee, but you weren’t contracted,” and she was encouraged to try sevens by Jess Wooden, who told her, “Look, I think you have the potential to be a great sevens player. Do you want to come and do a summer with us?”
Her time at the ARPTC concentrated on sevens under coaches including Julie, Hannah Stolba and Rysz Chadwick, and Perris-Redding recalled that period as pivotal: “Oh, I want more from my rugby.” She has since converted to 15s, become a full-time Premiership Women’s Rugby professional and has been to two World Cups.
Perris-Redding shares the Eagles captaincy with second-row Erica Jarrell-Searcy and has overcome a serious knee problem to play on; her twin, India, a scrum-half, was forced to retire through injury and Perris-Redding is described in the article as being 29 and in her prime. Her US call-up arrived in 2022 from then-coach Rob Cain, who was also working at Saracens; Perris-Redding recalled that Sale “played Sarries [and] a couple of days later I got a call.”
Her first outing against Wales, a non-cap World Cup warm-up in Llanelli, ended in a 31-23 win for the US and her first full cap came the following June against Canada in New Zealand. Balancing UK club commitments with US internationals “does have its difficulties but… one thing that’s fantastic is I’ve noticed how much easier it’s getting, and how cohesive it is between USA and Sale. The communication is great. They work well together, and… England have paved the way, and this is what it needs to look like. We’re starting to see massive improvements,” she said.
The Eagles have shown recent progress: they squared a series with South Africa in the summer and opened the autumn with a 40-36 win in Dublin against an Ireland side then ranked three spots higher, now just one, fifth to sixth; Perris-Redding scored the Eagles’ first try from short range but the team conceded three quick tries early, which she wants addressed. “big focus for [head coach] Jack [Hanratty] is our rugby IQ,” Perris-Redding said, and she added the objective of “fixing those small details, making sure that we don’t concede like we did in those first 20 minutes.”
Perris-Redding highlighted recovery and the integration of younger players: “I think with it being a short turnaround, it’s definitely something that we’ve had to take into consideration in terms of recovery and load. But I think the more time we have together, especially with the young girls coming through, playing key positions, key roles, moving us around the field, I think we’re getting to know Nina and Bella better and what they need, and vice versa. So hopefully, that all has a positive impact going into Saturday.” Nina Mason, a back-three player, won her first cap last weekend, and Bella Vogel, a fly-half, made her debut this summer aged 19; both are from Pennsylvania and still at college at Life.
Perris-Redding began playing with boys at Crewe & Nantwich, a club noted in the article for producing twins Tom and Ben Curry, and said she only found her stride towards the end of her teens after excelling in athletics; she described herself as “absolutely jealous” of Vogel’s early composure, adding: “I can only imagine what it feels like being that skilled in the way she sees the game, which is hard because you don’t grow up watching rugby [in the US], and I feel like that’s how a lot of people develop their IQ at a young age over here, especially. Honestly, the way she sees the game, the way she directs it, is fantastic and scary because she is so young and she’s only going to get better.”
Wales thrashed South Africa last week, 50-19, and Perris-Redding said the squad is focused on the immediate tasks rather than looking ahead: “All we spoke about was Ireland the first week. All we speak about now is Wales, and that’ll be the same for Italy. I think the coaches have done a great job in really breaking it down and allowing us as players to focus on what’s important right now. We know that the challenge of England is coming, but I think by then we’ll be very excited to give that a good go. I think this is the best rugby we’ve played for a while and England are getting tested now, so I think it’s a good time to go out there and play them.” The Wales v USA match will be broadcast in the US on Paramount+, in the UK on BBC iPlayer and BBC Wales, and around the world on RugbyPass TV, and the Eagles will face Italy in October in Nashville, Tennessee, and Mansfield, Texas, before a marquee game against England in Harrison, New Jersey in a double bill with the Eagles men against an Australia XV.