Rising Trailfinders star Haidee Head is on England's radar

Brisbane-born Haidee Head is on England’s radar after she was named as one of four uncapped Trailfinders Women in John Mitchell’s most recent Red Roses camp.

The young back row qualifies for England through her mother and has been mightily impressive since arriving from Queensland Reds this season.

Head represents a significant coup for the Red Roses as a promising young back row looks to have chosen her English heritage over the country of her birth, at least in the short term.

Head said: “I went into the Under-21s first. I got invited in last year, it was a positional camp. It was really cool just to see how they run their programme differently.

“I've never actually been invited into an international set-up, even when I was back in Australia I wasn't invited into an international set-up, so it was really cool just to generally see how the pathway does it.

“The Red Roses are known to have one of the best pathways in the world, and you can see it. It's very structured, they get the Roses coaches in as well which is really cool to have coaching from their top team at a pathway level.

“And with the senior Roses, for the squad I got invited into, it was just all about culture and how they want to get better as a team. Just seeing how the girls were, and it was just kind of cool just being there and experiencing it all.”

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It can be an overwhelming experience for young players to enter international camps, and, given that Head has only been in England for a few months, her selection is even more significant.

Mitchell and co. have clearly identified the back row as a potential Red Rose of the future, and with her Trailfinders teammates in tow, Head will no doubt settle into the national environment quickly.

Head said: “Luckily, I am quite close with Abi Burton and Meg [Jones], so I spent a lot of time with Abi and just kind of tried to get around and talk to everyone that I could as much as possible.

“It is quite daunting going into an environment not knowing anyone. But everyone was welcoming and all of the girls, especially the leadership group, like Mo [Hunt], Zoe [Stratford], and others came up to us, had conversations with us, and made us feel really welcome.

“That was really nice because I think going into an environment like that, especially after them winning the World Cup, us girls that are quite a lot younger and obviously not had any exposure in that environment. They were just quite welcoming with all of us.”

It wasn’t only a choice between England and Australia for Head, as the back row also qualifies for Ireland, Wales, and New Zealand through her family tree.

For now, Head has seemingly committed to England and is enjoying settling into her new surroundings in West London as Trailfinders enjoy an impressive season as they hunt for a spot in the play-offs later in the season.

Trailfinders have had a number of incredibly tight finishes, including two draws and two losses by a single point, but the back row believes they can turn these results into wins in the next part of the campaign.

Head said: “I think we've been focusing on closing things out. We've obviously had quite a few games that have been quite tight.

“There’s been more focus on how, in important moments, obviously we love to throw the ball around, but maybe it's not necessarily a time for that style when there’s 10 minutes to go.

“For me as a young player, it’s a really important thing to learn, and especially just learning is the best way to play in that scenario to continue and close out the win.”