Meg Jones, captain of the England women's rugby union team, has already been to a clinic with her fiancée to have their egg count checked. The 29-year-old speaks about her wedding and her family plans with the same ease she talks about scrums and lineouts. "Why should my opportunity to have a family be taken away from me because I want to pursue my career?" she asked.
Jones is calling for Red Roses players to get fertility support and egg freezing — help women everywhere donate extra eggs to their own future. Her plea is part of a quiet revolution sweeping women's sport, where players are refusing to choose between being an athlete and being a parent.
"I'm an open book," Jones said, explaining why she wants to share her journey. She and her fiancée planned to freeze eggs but got reassuring news from doctors: "We were looking to freeze, but actually the advice was we don't need to freeze yet so we can probably wait till after the wedding. That's where we were going to look to conceive."
England's Red Roses already have one of the strongest maternity policies in international women's sport. Two World Cup winners have recently given birth, and two more players are expecting. Players currently get a week of paid leave per treatment cycle for fertility appointments flavours.
But there is no specific policy on financially compensating England players for fertility treatment. A Rugby Football Union (RFU) spokesperson said the union is "proud to have been at the forefront of industry-leading support" and is "always open to exploring how that support can evolve." It is understood that discussions are ongoing and a fertility package could be introduced in the future.
Jones first raised the idea after hearing that Spain's football federation would pay for its international women's players to freeze their eggs. She said the Red Roses should "jump on that" policy. In August, Chelsea women's team also unveiled a partnership with a fertility company to provide workshops, treatments, counselling and assessments — a fund that The Observer reported would cover the cost of the whole squad freezing their eggs.
"I wouldn't have thought it was something that we were lacking from maybe a governing point of view," Jones admitted, speaking before England's match against Australia. "But now I think about it I'm like, yeah, actually, I haven't got that opportunity to go and create a family and be guided on."
"I've definitely flagged it with our group. Again, you learn so much from other teams… and I think the more we can empower women the better for the game as a whole, and better for women in general."
That last idea is the heart of it. Fertility support is not just about rugby — it's about a world where a woman's ambition to compete at the highest level never has to cost her the family she dreams of. As the RFU weighs what comes next, teams around the world are watching. And for young girls picking up a ball for the first time, the message is simple: you can have both.