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Amelia MacDougall: The perfect ten and playing for her childhood club
The origins of Amelia MacDougall, Saracens’ all-action teenage fly-half, have already been fairly well documented.
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If you, on your Premiership debut, step into the cavernous boots of an injured Zoe Harrison at one of the most successful clubs in the game’s history and don’t miss a beat – it’s only a matter of time before your media officer’s plonking you before expectant journalists, and you’re telling them about a childhood spent huddled in breezy North London stands alongside your rugby-mad father, watching the Wolfpack run out – or excelling at Old Albanians whilst, with a different-shaped ball at your precocious feet – featuring on Tottenham’s books.
But what if she were given the opportunity to design her own number ten from scratch? To blend together existing players and skillsets, and realise the platonic ideal of a half-back? Where would she begin then?
The youngster leans back in her chair, in the underbelly of the StoneX, with a reflective puff of the cheeks.
‘Marcus Smith’ is first up. ‘His ability to accelerate off the mark: to see a gap and just be gone.’ She thinks. ‘Zoe Harrison’s game management and kicks in-play.’
Warming to the task now. ‘Communication is so important as a ten. The very best blend backs and forwards in one team, so their efforts are combined – and get the best out of everyone around them. Then I’ll take Owen Farrell’s kicking for posts – of course.’
‘Oh – and Finn Russell’s mentality. He’s someone I just love watching. People say that he acts like he doesn’t care, but it’s so obvious that he does: it’s just how he plays the sport, and that is so cool. No one’s going to have perfect games week in, week out – that’s just not going to happen – so his ability to follow a shanked kick with the miss-pass which puts his winger away is amazing. To recover, and be world-class again a few phases later is a trait I want to develop.’
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When it comes to leadership, she’s not short on inspiration – rubbing buff shoulders with Marlie Packer and Sophie De Goede on a weekly basis – but she’s, impressively, forging her own path here. ‘I want to lead in my own way – rather than mimicking someone else.
“I know that I learn best when someone talks to me calmly, and that I’m naturally laidback. As I find my feet more, I’m growing confident enough to just focus on playing well, and – through that – help those around me play to their own strengths.
Competitiveness is a non-negotiable, and – in this athlete’s case – was inevitable. ‘I’ve got two older brothers,’ she laughs, ‘so board games have always been interesting. None of us like losing anything, and no one was ever prepared to go easy on me at home.’
Cut-throat rivals over the Monopoly board, but fervent supporters of her meteoric ascent in both Saracens and England colours. ‘Pretty much [her] whole family’ flooded the stands at Shaftesbury Park as the 19-year-old started her first major trophy final – with the Allianz Cup on the line deep in the West Country.
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With a fit-again Zoe Harrison poised to choreograph the business end of their Premiership tilt, the prodigious playmaker seized her opportunity with characteristic gusto – and steered the women in black to the summit one of the very few podiums which had previously eluded them.
‘It was such a special day,’ she reminisces, ‘and I had a long, hard think about it afterwards. This is really just the start of my career – I’m nowhere near the end point – but it’s so important to relish these things, and celebrate how far I’ve come.’
Twelve months ago, the lifelong Saracens fan hadn’t yet made her PWR debut – and that version of herself feels a world away. ‘I learned so much – in this perfect training environment, out on the pitch, and under the pressures which come with the game. I know what to expect of myself now: when I’m playing my best, and what I need to do to get there.
Another recipe for success: this interview’s full of them… What goes into a performance-ready MacDougall, then? ‘Lots of salts – because I’m a sweater, and bad with my cramps – and then carbs.’ Evening pasta, game-day eggs on toast, and a liberal sprinkling of caramel rice cakes, in case you were wondering.
As much sleep as possible, specifically – for away days – rooming with ‘Flanners’ (fellow Oaklands College pathway athlete, Chloe Flanagan).
The finishing touch? Immaculate rugby-proof hair, which has taken some finessing. It’s flawless as we speak – a pair of braids into an elegant, scrunchie-ensconced up-do – but it’s taken serious trial and error, and she spent much of the PWR Up Series doing her best Medusa impression, as dark blonde strands jail-broke incessantly. She reels off the best braiders at Sarries before passionately endorsing the power of ‘look good, play good.’
Over the course of a whirlwind rookie season – familiarity was an invaluable touchstone, as were those around her in North London. ‘I’ve been coming here for so long – from being a little kid with my dad to running out on the pitch now – and everyone genuinely wants the best for you: the staff, the pathway, the coaches, and your teammates. To come in as an 18-year-old, wanting to learn, and immediately having players like [Sarah] McKenna and Leanne [Infante] feeding you as much information as you can take in – at all times – is amazing.’
‘It was quite daunting being in the same changing room as athletes I’d watched playing for England, but – as soon as I had to step in for Zoe – they were behind me.’ She lights up recounting how the likes of Poppy Cleall empowered her to pull the strings – ‘“you’re our ten, and we want you to tell us what to do”’ – and how Marlie Packer, World Player of the Year and Red Roses skipper, would pull her aside before ‘every game – to remind me to be confident, and that the whole team was backing me. If I’m honest, I was a bit starstruck at points – it was surreal – but I got used to it as quickly as I could.’
She had to: you’re a marked woman, playing at out-half for one of the teams others most relish, or covet, beating. Saracens are the England of the Six Nations – gold-scalped, and with giant targets on their backs – and she chuckles when asked what that’s like. ‘It’s pretty nice! Knowing that people are trying to beat you, especially at home – comes with pressure, but that only makes you play better. I get it: not many teams do it, so it’s a massive achievement.’
Trailfinders’ siege in round one was immense – ‘one of the toughest games I’ve ever played in’ – but Alex Austerberry’s side prevailed before staving off the Salford cold by running in eight tries. MacDougall has played every minute – notching 20 points off the tee, and as many carries and tackles as any other Saracen back – but their toughest test is yet to come.
A trip to Bear Country – a rematch of that Allianz Cup title decider, and repeat of last year’s historic PWR semi-final, when Dave Ward’s ferocious charges dazzled their way to a stunning of the StoneX.
It’s becoming one of the league’s tastiest rivalries, and this latest iteration is poised to be a belter. Bristol were immense in their opener, and have since had a bye week with which to further sharpen claws, so will be supremely confident in their ability to pick up right where they left off – at Ashton Gate and before the TNT cameras – spearheaded by their own orchestrator extraordinaire.
‘Amber is a truly great player,’ is the immediate response when the prospect of going toe-to-toe with World Cup winner, Reed, arises. ‘She’s physical, and has a brilliant carry game, but she’s also unpredictable – and can hit you just as easily with a 20-metre pass or a little dink in behind. She’ll be tough to play against, but I love a good battle… and we’ll see who’s won it at 80 minutes.’
With that – MacDougall’s up, with a heartfelt ‘thank you’, and off to training – but that little flicker of fighting talk really crackles. She’s spent so much of this conversation acknowledging the work and talents of others that it lands with arresting confidence: Saturday’s a whopper, and this tyro’s relishing the prospect.
If designing the perfect fly-half, you’d be generous with the swashbuckle, after all – Russell and Smith would be the first to agree – and, as this quietly assured and seriously talented athlete takes the next steps in her own career, plenty of the key ingredients -it’s safe to say – are already there.
I shall watch her progress with great interest. What she needs though is plenty of game time in the PWR and that may be an issue once Zoe is back from WXV and trying to get her England spot back. I think Holly Aitcheson's move to Bristol was in part to get game time at 10. The other much vaunted No 10 prospect is Ella Cromack but with Jill Scott's retirement she will get plenty of chances. Looks like the Red Roses will have a conveyor belt of 10s for the next dozen years, at least for the 2029 and 2033 World Cups.