Hogan getting stuck in after delayed start with Sale

Brittany Hogan’s Sale Sharks career started later than initially planned but she has been making up for lost time ever since undergoing knee surgery.

The Ireland No.8 limped out of her country’s heart-breaking World Cup quarter-final defeat to France with a torn medial collateral ligament, which meant that she spent the end of 2025 rehabbing after going under the knife.

As a result, she missed the start of the Premiership Women’s Rugby campaign for new side Sale, following along from Ireland as the team started slowly with a succession of narrow defeats.

But having been back in the fold since Christmas, Hogan has been a big part of Sale’s upturn in fortunes, most recently giving Gloucester Hartpury a run for their money before back-to-back wins over Trailfinders Women and Harlequins.

In her first season of domestic rugby outside Ireland, it has been everything the 27-year-old No.8 had hoped for and more.

She said: “I was in Ireland for the 3-4 months of rehab after the World Cup. We were so close to achieving our goals.

“People say you have put Ireland on the map, but as an individual athlete, you still feel the heartbreak of it.

“And for myself, getting injured, I had to get straight into rehab, as opposed to some of the girls who were able to go away and clear their heads. That was tough, but I’m here now!

“I knew that it was going to be a step up from club rugby that I was playing before because of the nature of the people that were here. I came over to view Sale Sharks and the facilities and thought this is a club facility, that is unreal. I was really impressed.”

Hogan has seen that level of professionalism at international level, having been part of the Ireland set-up for nearly a decade between sevens and 15s.

But she readily admits that in a club environment, the depth that Sale can call upon in training is another level to watch she had previously experienced.

That includes training alongside some World Cup winners in Amy Cokayne, Morwenna Talling and Holly Aitchison, players she could face at Allianz Stadium in front of more than 60,000 people for the Guinness Women’s Six Nations opener next month.

It is set to be a surreal experience for Hogan.

She explained: “I’ve always been in Ireland, so I’ve never played with them (the England players), I’ve always watched them on TV whenever we are doing reviews or previews.

“It will be weird if we are doing a lineout preview to be previewing Moz (Talling). I know her as a person, so that adds that aspect. I’ve never had that before, that will be nice.

“We’ve got England first up which is always a good one first. They are a very good team anyway but they get even better when they have time to build and gel. So hopefully having them first up, we can be fully prepared and go into making that a good spectacle.

“France, a couple of weeks later will be the game we are fully prepared for. Because of the World Cup, we are desperate to beat them this time.”

While some of the Sale players were enjoying a well-earned rest last weekend, Hogan zipped back to Ireland for her mum’s hen do, while she will be bridesmaid at the wedding in May – conveniently scheduled in a Six Nations rest week.

Overall, it was a welcome break for Sharks, who have really started to find their footing ahead of a meeting with Loughborough Lightning this weekend.

That encounter will take place at the CorpAcq Stadium, and with a consensus being found across the league about what a daunting trip it is becoming, Hogan is relishing home comforts.

She added: “I know some of the other Irish players on the other teams over here and whenever they are going to come and play us or even they are watching on TV, they say ‘that is the most attritional style of rugby that we have to play’.

“It’s going back to square one, but I think those games are more about who wants to win, who is the most competitive person. We are full of determination, the girls are unreal and would do anything for the person beside them.”

As a former sevens standout, that attritional approach where set-piece is key might seem at odds with Hogan’s strengths.

But she has relished getting up to speed on the more technical and tactical aspects of forwards play in 15s.

And as a relative latecomer to rugby, she believes there is a lot to be said for a multi-sport background, having played hockey, Gaelic football, netball and plenty more sports when she was younger.

She said: “I only came into rugby when I was 15. We didn’t have a professional 15s set-up at that time, so sevens was my way to get paid to be a rugby player.

“The intensity of training that you had every single day stood to me. I loved every second of it.

“There are the transferable skills with other sports, you learn one or two main skills that are important for each different sport or code that you play.

“Even on the physical side, you work different parts of your body, different parts of your cardiovascular body. I would recommend that people do as many different sports as you can get your parents to drive them to!”

Those trips took Hogan all over and have eventually led her to rugby in Sale. Now back to full strength, she is only just getting started.