Rugby World Cup: Abby Dow defied odds to make it to New Zealand

Abby Dow scored a try on her return for England against Fiji

When England wing Abby Dow broke her leg six months ago, a surgeon told her she would not make it to the World Cup.

You only need to talk to the 25-year-old for five minutes to know that if anyone was going to defy that assessment, it was Dow.

The wing describes the injury sustained in April, when her leg broke in three places, as "very messy".

After what must have been a traumatic time, Dow can even crack a joke about it now.

"Go big or go home," she laughs when describing her diagnosis. "I nearly went home."

It happened when Dow was playing against Wales in the Women's Six Nations. Afterwards, she was told it would take six to nine months to come back from such a severe injury.

There were just under six months to go before England's World Cup opener against Fiji.

"I had a heart-breaking zoom call with my surgeon before surgery," Dow recalls of that time.

"He pretty much told me it wasn't happening."

'Tough luck, suck it up'

That surgeon evidently did not realise with whom he was dealing.

Dow has played rugby since she was a five-year-old and still loves the game now as much as she did then.

It has been there for her through everything. After the sudden death of her father Paul in 2021, she quickly returned to help England take the Women's Six Nations title.

It was there to help Dow let off steam as she completed a mechanical engineering degree.

Now, the sport needed something from her.

The challenges Dow faced to get back are evident in a documentary called 'Wear the Rose', which tracks England's World Cup preparations.

After one bike session, she rolls on the floor crying in pain. It was always going to be a race against time and Dow knew every session counted.

"If I didn't give it 100% and I didn't make it, I would have been so disappointed in myself," she explains.

"Maybe it was three or four sessions I didn't try 100% at, I fall behind on my rehab and as a result it's too risky to take me [to the World Cup].

"I had to do it and that was how, so it was a 'tough luck, suck it up' attitude."

'A calf raise is my new try celebration'

Such an incredible comeback cannot be achieved alone.

England physio Emily Ross sat in on Dow's surgery and saw things differently to the surgeon.

"As soon as she came out she said 'we're going to give it a go'," Dow remembers.

Dow knows Ross' family now. She jokes that in the past six months she has spent more time with the physio than with her own relatives.

"If she put in a normal amount of effort we wouldn't have made it," Dow says. "That woman turned up every day for hours and hours."

Against all predictions, Dow did make it. She even scored a try on her return in England's record-breaking win against Fiji.

She was swamped by her team-mates after scoring and head coach Simon Middleton cheered joyfully in the stands, but Dow had snuck in a special celebration of her own.

"There's this little moment where you can see me do a calf raise," she says.

Back in the darkest days of rehab, standing on her toes in a calf raise was the biggest goal Ross set Dow.

"When I did my first one I said to Em, 'when I score my first try I'm going to do a calf raise'," Dow explains.

"When I scored my try I scouted out Emily through all the hugs. I was very proud to make her proud."

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'I want to thrive at this World Cup'

Of course, Dow is not satisfied with the already incredible feat of making it back for the World Cup.

As in everything she does, if she is going to take part, she wants to be the best.

Dow will reflect on the challenging, and at times surely traumatic, past six months when the side returns to England. For now, they have a World Cup to win.

Middleton has always been a big fan of Dow, previously describing her one of the best finishers in world rugby.

She looked on her way back to that form against Fiji and in an ominous warning to Saturday's pool opponents France, Dow says she has "not peaked" physically yet.

"With uni and school it was always 'if that's the top mark then that's what I'm going to aim for'," she explains.

"I set high standards and I want to achieve them. I had done so much work on just trying to make the World Cup. I want to do more than that - I want to thrive in it."

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