England Rugby: Shaunagh Brown on Red Roses emulating Lionesses and how school uniform needs rethink

Watching the Lionesses' historic Euro success from the stands at Wembley in July, Shaunagh Brown was captivated by the occasion.

For a brief moment, her mind fast-forwarded three years and she pictured what a capacity-crowd Twickenham Stadium could look and feel like should the Red Roses emulate their triumph in the Rugby World Cup final.

First, Simon Middleton's England side aim to carry the baton of the foundation Sarina Wiegman's squad built on home soil this summer when they travel to New Zealand for the delayed World Cup, which starts next month on October 8.

As the top-ranked side - and with an imperious 23-match unbeaten run that stretches back to 2019 - England are much fancied to win a third World Cup title. While Brown admits the different time zone with matches taking place in the middle of the night is not conducive to sustaining the same level of appetite and fanfare the Lionesses created, it has whetted the appetite for what can be achieved in their backyard in the future.

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"Football is a different beast to rugby in terms of numbers, money and everything. But why can't we aim for the same sort of level of success as the Lionesses?" Brown told Sky Sports.

"Now we've seen it's possible, everyone is doing everything they can in their jobs - whether it's us as players, the coaches, the people in the offices at the RFU in Twickenham, the commercial and marketing staff, or the financial staff - everything we do as an organisation is about eventually hoping to fill Twickenham for World Cup 2025.

"You then see how England (the Lionesses) sold out their game against the USA (for their friendly later this year) within a few hours after the match was announced. It's like 'wow, people are willing to spend their time on the internet, waiting in a queue to be able to buy tickets for women's sport'."

Why school uniform is stopping girls from being active

It was not just the Lionesses' triumph on the pitch that heartened Brown. Amid their celebrations, an open letter penned to the Prime Minister from the squad called for all girls to be allowed to play football at school.

"One of my biggest passions is girls being active full stop," said Brown, who is looking to add to her 26 England caps against the USA this Saturday, in one of two World Cup warm-up matches this month.

"It doesn't have to be rugby, and it doesn't have to be organised sport where you have winners or losers. Part of the problem goes back to school uniform. At so many primary schools, they still have it compulsory that girls have to wear a skirt or dress.

"Running around in a skirt or dress is not conducive to just playing," the 32-year-old tighthead prop, who has played for Harlequins since 2016, said. "Because you don't want your knickers on show. You don't want your skirt to come up and you can't hang upside down - and actually that's entirely the reason why I stopped wearing a dress or skirt to primary school.

"I remember saying to my mum 'I can't hang upside down on the monkey bars' and she said 'fine, you don't have to wear one ever again' - and very rarely to this day I actually do.

"Girls should just be able to play. It doesn't matter if someone is really fast, or really strong. It doesn't matter if you're any good at it. It's just about being active.

"So many schools are under pressure with exam results and league tables - and the pressure when Ofsted come in to get your 'Outstanding' or 'Good'. But my problem is that they are not marked on physical activity. And so the schools don't concentrate on it.

"There's so much about sport and PE that is not tangible, or recordable. That might be different in 15 years' time when people have the research to find out how many women partake in activity every week."

'It breaks my heart when I hear about schools that don't offer PE'

Only earlier this year did a study conducted by Women In Sport find that more than one million girls who thought of themselves as sporty at primary school lose interest in physical activity when they hit their teenage years due in part to a fear of being judged and a lack of confidence.

With schools in England and Wales gearing up for their return after the summer break, Brown has stressed the many benefits sport can provide.

"It's tough and breaks my heart when I hear about schools that don't offer PE," she said. "Because everyone involved in sport knows how much it brings to life. How much discipline it gives it, how it allows you to communicate with others and meet people you haven't met before. It teaches you about life.".

Brown is not afraid to use her voice and platform to confront issues head-on. A former gas engineer and trained fire-fighter, she has acquired much life experience of a working world outside rugby circles.

Even her previous sporting career in athletics, which saw her represent England in the hammer throw at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, has provided her with first-hand experience of the challenging issues that some athletes face when it comes to sports kit.

"The key word [around the discussion] is choice. Some women want to wear bikini bottoms and crop tops because they think it's best for their performance. As much as I never would, there are so many people who would.

"As long as you have the choice to wear it, and a free and open one and not one brought about by pressure from a coach who says, 'you might get to knock a thousandth of a second off your time if you wear a bikini and crop top', then that's also not your choice because you're being pressured into making it.

"Then you look at other sports like gymnastics where there are rules around what kits they wear. It's usually around cutting down what you wear. Even in this world we're living in now, where people realise that women have a voice, and women want to do more and aren't there to be sexualised or objectified we have official governing body rules dictating what women are allowed to wear and you think 'we've got so much more work to do'."

'I've realised how much I've relied on rugby for my happiness'

For all Brown's self-belief and conviction in her words, she was to learn much about herself last year when she was left out of the Red Roses' autumn international squad and subsequently missed the back-to-back mighty victories over New Zealand.

"My initial feeling, when I wasn't part of the squad last year, was just gutted. You just think someone has just taken a part of me away and I've had no say in it. It was 'wow, what do I do now?'. During the New Zealand games, I had a strange feeling watching, I was so happy for the girls, I was watching like an actual fan.

"It was a big learning curve for me. I'm now a better person for what happened. Not just physically, although my scrummaging is better now, but mentally. I've realised how much I've relied on rugby for my happiness."

With confidence restored on and off the pitch, and further energised by the success the Lionesses have injected into the Red Roses' squad, all roads lead to New Zealand with silverware firmly in their grasp.

Who knows, maybe a Chloe Kelly-style shirt-swirling final celebration is not out of the question either?

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"If we're talking about who could recreate the winning scoring moment, I've got someone like Zoe Aldcroft in my head - or an Abbie Dow, hopefully she's fit when it comes to it," Brown mused.

"In terms of celebration, I'm thinking of a Hannah Botterman. I could see her getting her top off. I would certainly get my top off and would certainly swing it around my head, and everyone being like 'you can't do that here, this is rugby, we don't do this'. It would have to be a character who does it and doesn't care what our bodies look like."

Promoting body positivity and spearheading England's drive to become world champions is all in a day's work for the irrepressible Brown.

Follow live updates from England's World Cup warm-up against USA on Saturday on skysports.com and the Sky Sports app