20 Questions With World Cup winner Maggie Alphonsi

20 Questions With

Maggie Alphonsi is one of the leading figures in women's sport. A Women's Rugby World Cup winner with England in 2014, she won 74 caps for her country, scored 28 tries and became known as 'Maggie The Machine' for the relentlessness of her tough tackling. Born with a club foot, she was brought up by a single mother of Nigerian heritage on a north London estate, and used to fight other children, including boys, in a bid to prove herself. Through rugby she was able to express her physicality and she relished the challenges the sport posed. Today she is a role model for others as she helps pioneer a greater female presence in the men's game and champions female participation in rugby and beyond. An MBE, she is one of ITV's Rugby World Cup pundits alongside Sir Clive Woodward and Jonny Wilkinson, and is a Telegraph columnist. Here she tells the remarkable story of her rise to becoming a household name, that includes tackling Owen Farrell and the comedian Jack Whitehall, and discusses her love of a sport that she acknowledges faces serious challenges in the form of concussion and its effects.