Former England international Shaunagh Brown has described Jo Yapp as the 'perfect' person to lead the British & Irish Lions Women on their inaugural tour, praising her sense of perspective and people skills.
Yapp Appointed as First Lions Women's Head Coach
The 46-year-old, who earned 70 caps for England as a player, guided Australia to the World Cup quarter-finals last year and has held coaching roles with Worcester Warriors and the Barbarians. Last week, it was announced that Yapp will become the Lions Women's first-ever head coach when they travel to New Zealand next year, beating competition from Red Roses head coach John Mitchell and others.
Many expected Mitchell's familiarity with the likely England contingent in the squad to give him the edge, but Brown, a former Red Roses prop, believes Yapp's interpersonal abilities make her a shrewd appointment.
Brown Praises Yapp's People Skills
“I’ve never been coached by her but if you speak to her directly, or to anyone who has been coached by her or been around her, she is an incredible people person,” Brown said. “It is finally being recognised across the game that you can’t just focus on performance on the pitch. How you bring your team together culturally is so important to how they perform on the pitch, and how players feel as a person off the pitch has a direct impact on how they perform on it.”
Brown was speaking at Medway RFC, her first club, to help launch Royal London’s annual Championing Women and Girls’ Rugby Award. She added: “For this to be the first tour bringing four nations together, players who are going at it and tearing each other’s heads off every year in the Six Nations, and four very strong home nations in terms of heart, culture, belief and passion, that will be the first challenge. Jo Yapp will be gifted a group of world-class players, that’s a given. The challenge will be bringing them together to make them unstoppable. For me, Jo Yapp is the perfect person to do that.”
Brown emphasised Yapp's varied career as a key asset: “Her path has been so varied that she can look at it from different angles. She won’t have the bias of knowing so much more about certain players. That perspective will be the most important thing as she has such a wide variety of it.”
Ireland's Back Row Impresses Brown
England secured their eighth consecutive Women’s Six Nations title in May, and Yapp’s compatriots are expected to form the core of the Lions squad. However, Brown, who retired permanently in 2024 after a brief comeback, was impressed by Ireland’s performances this spring and believes their back row could feature in the touring party.
“My standouts were the whole Irish back row - Aoife Wafer, Erin King and Britt Hogan,” she said. “As a unit of three but also as individuals, they have such a wide variety of skillsets between them. They are not just 'crash it up the middle' ball carriers. They can pass, make decisions, take it down the wing, run on the edge, they can do all of what you need modern day back-rowers to do.”
Royal London's Championing Women and Girls' Rugby Award
Brown was speaking at Medway RFC to promote Royal London’s annual Championing Women and Girls’ Rugby Award, now in its third year. The initiative recognises four clubs annually, one from each home union, who receive a trophy and a £10,000 grant to invest in their women and girls' programmes.
Previous English recipients include Guisborough and Lancaster Lionesses. Brown, who sits on the judging panel, said: “The impact has been incredible to see but also tangible. It is nice to see a direct outcome of the money put in by Royal London, whereas in some bigger clubs it might just get consumed as part of their budget. The standout criteria for us is seeing where it is spent. The whole point of this is about legacy and the future of the women’s game, giving women and girls what they need to continue the game’s evolution.”
She noted the growing interest: “The first year, we had just under 130 applications, the following year was around 250. If we can get close to doubling that number again, that would be brilliant. It’s more reading for us but it’s all good stuff!”
Applications for the award are open until 12pm on Monday 20 July 2026 via the Lions website. Royal London is the only Founding Partner of The British & Irish Lions Women’s rugby team.
