Marland Yarde, the former Sale Sharks and England rugby union player, has spoken about his complete career change as he trains to become a commercial pilot in Portugal. Yarde was the victim of a campaign of false allegations by Sandra Ntonya, from Gorton, which he says left his life in tatters.
Ntonya met Yarde on a night out in Manchester shortly after he had left his girlfriend. She later phoned police and falsely accused him of raping another woman, leading to his arrest and a five-month police investigation before prosecutors decided to bring no charges.
Stalking conviction and jail
Ntonya was arrested and convicted of stalking Yarde at Manchester Crown Court in February 2025. She was described as an 'attention-seeking narcissist' whose behaviour towards Yarde was 'highly abusive and damaging'. In April 2025 she was jailed for breaching a restraining order against him.
The ordeal took a profound toll on Yarde, who won 13 caps for England. It left him unable to play rugby for a considerable period and feeling as though his life had been placed on hold indefinitely. At Ntonya's sentencing, the court heard the impact was 'profound' on the player, with his contract terminated and his mental health suffering.
'It was very, very tough'
Speaking on The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast, Yarde opened up about the experience. "It was very, very tough. I obviously knew within myself that I had never done anything wrong, but as an athlete and especially someone who's basically within the media, you can't really say anything."
He described spending six months in the dark, feeling guilty "just via association" despite there never being a charge. "I just wanted my life to be back to normal, that was really hard to take. Once something like this happens, say you lose your family, lose your job, lose your income, your character is destroyed - there's so many different foundations of stuff that just evaporates."
Yarde explained that the prolonged uncertainty was particularly gruelling, as he repeatedly believed he was on the verge of returning to rugby, only to see those prospects vanish. "When you lose everything at once, it's really quite a dark thing," he added. "There was light at the end of the tunnel because it was done and I was thinking I can back into [rugby] and play at that level, and I speak to a few coaches from different clubs and we're good, and then it gets blocked in the last second."
Move to France and new career
Yarde ultimately secured a transfer to Bayonne in France's Top 14, a move that offered him a chance to rebuild away from the surroundings where his career had fallen apart. "I feel like this allowed me to grow. I obviously needed to hit the the bottom to really appreciate everything that I have in life," he said. "I wanted to take my life into my own hands and grow as a person, and it made me a better person."
Now, instead of trying to resurrect his rugby career, Yarde has relocated to Portugal and begun an intensive commercial pilot training programme. "I managed to take up a commercial pilot course in Portugal and it's been a revelation to be honest," he said. "It's something I've always been intrigued about wanting to do, so I just took a decision."
Yarde is completing the integrated ATPR course, which takes roughly two to three years. "I'm at the back end of it now. You have to do around 800 hours of classroom," he explained. "We do about 26 exams in total and you have a time constraint of 18 months for completing those exams, so it's quite intense."
Reflecting on his life in Portugal, he said: "It's very nice. I've actually moved a little bit towards the middle now, where the aerodrome is, but I did the ground [school] in a place called Cascais, which is a beautiful part of Portugal." The relocation signifies more than just securing another profession after rugby, as the former England wing has found a new path forward following a career that ended in a manner he could hardly have envisioned when he emerged with London Irish.
