Former England prop Shaunagh Brown has come out of retirement and will play for Premiership Women’s Rugby club Harlequins next season.
The 33-year-old quit the game at the end of December after winning 30 caps for the Red Roses, the Six Nations four times and a league title with Quins.
She will combine playing with a coaching role at the London club.
“I see where the game is heading and feel like I still have more to offer,” she told the club website.
“The opportunity to come back was one I couldn’t turn down. The flame inside me has been firmly reignited and I can’t wait to come out fighting for Quins in the new era of women’s rugby.”
The top flight has been rebranded from the Women’s Premier 15s for the 2023-24 campaign, with the change part of a 10-year plan for the women’s game in England.
The new-look league will feature 10 clubs in partnership with the Rugby Football Union.
Brown only started playing rugby in 2015, having previously represented England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the hammer.
She made her international debut against Canada in November 2017, and her final England outing came in the 34-31 defeat by New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup final last November.
A trained firefighter, a heating engineer and a commercial diver, Brown said rugby had “only ever changed my life for the better” when she announced her retirement at the end of last year.
She made 81 appearances for Quins during her first spell at the club, and her versatility in the forward pack will also bolster the club’s options in the back row following her return to the game.
