Georgie Perris-Redding, born in Detroit and raised through the ranks at Crewe & Nantwich RUFC, will lead the US Eagles as co-captain against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday. The flanker, who plays for Sale in Premiership Women's Rugby, has been to two World Cups and is in her prime at 29.
From Crewe to Arkansas
Five years ago, Perris-Redding made the 4,300-mile trip from Crewe & Nantwich to Little Rock, Arkansas, to train at the American Rugby Professional Training Center (ARPTC). The hub, brainchild of former Eagle and Eagles coach Julie McCoy and entrepreneur Tania Hahn, ran for seven years as a high-performance centre.
The move came after a nudge from Jess Wooden, a wing out of the University of Florida who played for USA and was then at Sale. Wooden and England flanker Hannah Field, another teammate, were going to coach at ARPTC. Wooden suggested Perris-Redding had potential as a sevens player and invited her for a summer. At the time, Perris-Redding was in early years at Sale, paid a match fee but not contracted. She recalled: “Sounds like a good way to spend the summer, in the middle of Arkansas. Definitely the fittest I’ve ever been in my life.”
Born in Detroit, where her parents both worked for Ford, Perris-Redding qualified to play for the Eagles. Her spell at ARPTC focused on sevens, working with coaches including Julie McCoy, Hannah Stolba and Rysz Chadwick. She said: “It was really good for me. That was the first time where I think I was like, ‘Oh, I want more from my rugby.’”
Call-up and rise to the top
Her future lay in 15s. Now a full-time pro, the combative flanker leads the Eagles with Erica Jarrell-Searcy, a second row and clubmate in England. Perris-Redding’s twin, scrum-half India, was forced by injury to retire, but Perris-Redding has overcome her own serious knee problem to play on.
Her US call-up came in 2022 from then-coach Rob Cain, who was also working at Saracens. After Sale played Sarries, Perris-Redding got a call: “He was like, ‘Look, I think you have real potential. I’m going to ask you to come into a camp soon.’ That camp happened to be in Wales… and I never looked back.”
She played against Wales with highly experienced Eagles, including all-time greats Alev Kelter and Alycia Washington, in a 31-23 win in Llanelli. That was a non-cap World Cup warm-up; her first full cap came that June against Canada in New Zealand. Combining UK club rugby 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.”
Improving Eagles and a focus on detail
England are world leaders, winning 39 games in a row before a 26-26 draw with Canada last week. Perris-Redding’s Eagles are improving, squaring a series with South Africa in the summer and starting the autumn with a 40-36 win in Dublin against Ireland, then ranked three spots higher, now just one, fifth to sixth. Perris-Redding scored the Eagles’ first try from short range as they overcame a slow start.
“Big focus for [head coach] Jack [Hanratty] is our rugby IQ,” she said. “How we can be that clinical, and how we can wake up from minute one, and that’s something that we’re really focusing on this week. Because I … think we can say we had a good build-up to that Ireland game. We were ready. We were well prepared.” Yet they still conceded three quick tries. On Saturday, she wants her team to focus on “fixing those small details, making sure that we don’t concede like we did in those first 20 minutes.”
Young backs Nina Mason and Bella Vogel are making their mark. Mason, in the back three, won her first cap last weekend. Vogel, a fly-half, made her debut this summer aged 19. Both out of Pennsylvania and still at college at Life, they signal a shift in American rugby, with rugby’s roots reaching deeper. Perris-Redding, who played with the boys at Crewe & Nantwich, a club that produced England back-rows Tom and Ben Curry, said she only found her stride towards the end of her teens. She professes herself “absolutely jealous” of Vogel’s fast start: “I can only imagine what it feels like being that skilled in the way she sees the game… 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.”
Looking ahead
Wales thrashed South Africa last week, 50-19, putting the Americans on notice. In October the Eagles face Italy in Nashville, Tennessee, and Mansfield, Texas, before a marquee game against England in Harrison, New Jersey, a double bill with the Eagles men against an Australia XV. Perris-Redding insisted her team was not looking past Cardiff: “All we spoke about was Ireland the first week. All we speak about now is Wales, and that’ll be the same for Italy… 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.” Wales v USA will be broadcast in the US on Paramount+, in the UK on BBC iPlayer and BBC Wales, and around the world on RugbyPass TV.
