The gusting howls of autumn have begun to buffet England’s Bristol base with more wild weather forecast but Tatyana Heard, as so often seems to be the case, is a picture of calm. It is the week of a Women’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final for the Red Roses, an encounter with Scotland affording the home favourites a chance to break their own record winning streak, but, true to their character, little has changed for John Mitchell’s side.
Plenty, though, has changed for Heard in the last few years, after experiencing tempests of tumult early in her career. The 30-year-old is now as established a starter as any in Mitchell’s squad but her journey to being at the centre of much of what the Red Roses do well contained plenty of bumps. By the age of 24, Heard had torn her anterior cruciate ligament three times, the third coming just as she was beginning to break into the England side; her professional contract was soon taken away, forcing her into a part-time job at Asda as she recovered, recuperated and came again.
“So much has come before,” Heard reflects, not wishing to linger on the tough times given the chances that now lay ahead of her at a home World Cup. “There have been so many struggles. But this time around, this feels like an opportunity that I’ve actually got now, whereas before it all seemed so out of reach.
“With the consistency I’ve had coming in, I feel confident in my own ability and the team around me, which I’ve not always had before. I’ve always had a bit of inconsistency and not knowing if I quite fitted in. I’m grateful that now the girls and the coaching staff make everybody feel so comfortable within the environment and feel like you belong here.”
Born in Italy to a father in the US army, Heard spent the early years of her life in Maryland before relocating with her mother to a small market town on the edge of the North York Moors. Her pathway thereafter is perhaps more familiar, following in the footsteps of her elder brother into the youth section at Malton & Norton RUFC before really flourishing at Hartpury College, finishing school for so many of the Red Roses squad.
When we last spoke at length at the start of 2023 just after she had broken back into the England fold, the centre spoke honestly of having to learn to embrace every moment to get the best out of herself – tricky, she explains, when her international dream had already been snatched away once. “When I look back to before, most of my thought process of being in that moment was through fear of losing it again. I think the difference now is I’m living in the moment because I’m enjoying every moment, rather than panicking that I am going to fail and then lose that opportunity. I’ve had moments where I didn’t want to make a mistake, so I’d be afraid to try things – that’s not where I sit now. Even if I’m still a bit of a perfectionist…”
Many a shrewd watched has observed that when Heard plays well, so do England. Given the strength of their winning run, the obvious conclusion is that the centre does not have many bad games. Certainly, among the finest decisions of the Mitchell era has been to reunite Heard and Meg Jones in a midfield pairing that extends back further than some might think.
“I’ve known Meg since she was 16 and we were in college,” Heard remembers of the duo’s Hartpury days. “She can do amazing things, sometimes that I wouldn’t necessarily see, but she’ll go and create something incredible.
“From the moment I met her, she’s always been like that. We’ve learnt together and grown together. She’s very receptive and I try to be too. I’m lucky that I get to play inside her and feed off her energy.”
It is a centre combination of contrasts that seems to work well. While Jones is one of the more demonstrative characters in England camp, Heard brings an altogether quieter authority, a self-assurance and perhaps introverted energy that has taken time to hone. “I think that there’s been a long time throughout my career when I’ve not really understood myself,” she admits with striking honesty. “There have been times where I get to a certain point in a tournament and I’m like, ‘I cannot function anymore’.
“The issue is I do get a bit over-stimulated with too much interaction. I love the girls to pieces, every single one of them, but there are times around the World Cup where you don’t actually get five minutes to yourself any more. I really thrive when I have time to be by myself for half-an-hour, decompress and switch off a bit. On the bus, sometimes I just think, ‘imagine if we just had silence for 20 minutes’ – some of these girls would go crazy.”
Perversely, Heard’s periods out through injury have been instructive and positive in that sense. “When you’re injured and in rehab, you spend so much time alone and have those opportunities to just decompress. Some people, they’d probably feel quite isolated and lonely and I’ve never really had that.”
It does not mean that Heard shuns the work that the Red Roses have done to showcase their personalities and grow the game. She marvels at the energy that has engulfed this World Cup, both at England games and elsewhere, having been part of a contingent that attended Ireland against Spain in Northampton. The connection with supporters – of all ages – is something she relishes, as is changing perceptions, having worked closely with a fashion brand Aligne to challenge stereotypes around women in sport and express herself off the pitch.
“I think it’s just so empowering. I always wanted to feel good and dress nicer, but I never really thought too much about it. But when I think back to when I was a kid, there weren’t may role models that were sporty but also into fashion and wanted to embrace themselves as individuals.
“I think there is so much to be said for having interests outside of rugby. Feeling like I can be feminine, feeling like I can dress how want to dress makes me feel strong. You can be a sportsperson and an athlete and also be really feminine or really fashionable.”
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