Light, ice & pain – Galligan wins WXV recovery race

WXV - United States v England

Venue: BC Place, Vancouver Date: Sunday, 29 September Kick-off: 20:30 BST Coverage: Live on BBC Sport website and BBC iPlayer

Second row Rosie Galligan says she followed a high-tech recovery strategy "hour by hour" to recover in time for England's WXV campaign.

The 26-year-old has not played for England since April, when she broke her thumb in a pre-match warm-up, and then suffered a serious foot injury.

"It was kind of touch and go if I would make this tour," she said.

"I did everything possible. I used a lot of red light therapy, which, from my research, stimulates mitochondria to help healing in muscles, bones and ligaments.

"I was pretty much attached to an ice machine anytime I wasn't doing rehabilitation, and I spent a lot of time on the physio bed as well.

"I definitely put everything into it. I followed my schedule hour by hour and day by day. Basically, anything to give myself that extra 1% recovery."

Red light therapy has been claimed to help the regeneration of cells in the body and reduce inflammation.

Galligan is a veteran of previous battles for fitness.

She contracted meningitis in September 2019 and, shortly after her return, broke her ankle, requiring four pins to be inserted in the joint.

However, she recovered to earn her place in the England squad that finished as runners-up in the Rugby World Cup in 2022. She says the Red Roses are putting in unprecedented levels of conditioning work to go one better next year.

"It has been such a tough pre-season for the girls, a lot of the older girls will say it is the toughest they have ever done," said Galligan.

"We are seeing all our hard work pay off and it is coming through in our performances. Our amount of ball-in-play time has gone up massively. If we are finding that hard as one of the fittest teams, then imagine what the opposition are feeling.

"We have also played more in our own half. In the past that has never been the case, it has been a traditional kick out and then try and make up ground on the opposition side of the field."

England's wins over France and New Zealand earlier this month stretched their winning streak to 17 matches before the start of the WXV1 tournament in Canada this weekend.

England start their title defence against the United States on Sunday.