Muir on returning 'home' to Gloucester-Hartpury

Prop Maud Muir has been a key player for both England and Gloucester-Hartpury

Premiership Women's Rugby: Exeter Chiefs v Gloucester-Hartpury

Venue: Sandy Park, Exeter Date: Saturday, 1 November Kick-off: 15:00 GMT

Coverage: Live on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website & app

Maud Muir has not known much other than winning in her rugby career so far.

The prop, crowned a world champion with England last month, has only lost one game for the Red Roses in her 48 international caps - the 2021 World Cup final - and the theme is much the same domestically.

Since she signed for Gloucester-Hartpury in 2022, they have gone on to win three successive Premiership Women's Rugby titles and lost only six matches of their past 55.

In Gloucester-Hartpury's first game of the new campaign last Sunday, the 24-year-old barrelled over as one of six try scorers in the statement 40-14 win against Saracens.

"It is good how much match experience I have had," Muir told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"I've played quite a few games in the last couple of years. I do feel very confident but I'm also excited because I have so much more to learn still."

By Muir's own admission, she was not in her best shape for the PWR opener, having had just two weeks off between the World Cup final win against Canada - with all the celebrations that ensued - before returning to training with her club.

Mentally, she also had to reset - coming down from the career-high of the triumph at Twickenham to returning "home" to her club for a new season six months after the last one ended.

"I did not lift a finger for two weeks after the World Cup final, [I] definitely don't feel in my best shape," Muir said.

"I felt like I could definitely have had a bit more time off but I was also ready to get back into it.

"It's hard to know what you need or want after such a big high, it's such a weird feeling and I don't think it's really talked about as much as it should be because it's weird, you don't really know what to do - getting back into Gloucester, getting back into the swing of things and having a bit more routine has been good."

This Saturday, Muir returns to Sandy Park where she won her first England cap in 2021, as Gloucester-Hartpury travel down the M5 to take on Exeter.

After having just 10 days of training together before the Saracens match, Muir believes the team that "adapts and comes together the quickest" following the World Cup will be the team that comes out on top this season.

"We can definitely fine-tune a few of our calls and it's probably going to be that side of things - fine-tuning rather than physical load this week," Muir said.

"But I think we all know what we need to do and [are] just excited to get out and go down for our first away game."