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USA captain Kate Zackary: 'I'm confident about this forward pack'
By Jeremy Inson
As captain of the USA, Kate Zackary is counting down the days until they open the 2025 Rugby World Cup.
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It means that Zackary has been an interested observer in the fortunes of all the teams in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations, but she has been paying particularly close attention to England.
The Eagles will face hosts England at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland on 22 August. In the meantime, she is doing all she can to learn about their opponents and has been a keen observer of the Red Roses’ seemingly serene progress to another Grand Slam.
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“What you’re seeing right now is a team who’s got so much depth,” Zackary tells RugbyPass. “It is mad that your most recent debutant is someone like Abi Burton.
“She’s featured in sevens, been an all-star in the PWR (Premiership Women’s Rugby) this season for Trailfinders Women, and really stood out to earn her place, to get that jersey. But that’s who you’re debuting. That’s who’s coming off the bench. That calibre of player. It’s madness.
“It’s amazing to see, and they’re a tough team to beat right now. They’re on a mission right now, but for us, for the USA, our target is the big dance come August. They’re building. We’re building. Really, what it comes down to is who shows up on that day.”
Zackary is well-acquainted with English rugby. The 35-year-old has just finished her second season playing for Trailfinders Women in the PWR after three years with Exeter Chiefs.
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In Round 2 of the Women’s Six Nations, she watched two of her Trailfinders teammates finish on the scoresheet when Abby Dow and Burton grabbed two tries apiece in their 67-12 victory over Wales in the Principality Stadium.
For the 25-year-old Burton, two tries on her debut were the completion of a remarkable three-year fightback from near death.
Nearly a year after playing sevens for Team GB at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, she began suffering seizures. When they worsened and her day-to-day behaviour failed to improve, she was sectioned for 26 days.
Burton failed to improve, but after a doctor reviewed her notes and conducted some tests, Burton was diagnosed with autoimmune encephalitis, which occurs when the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the brain.
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It is a very rare disease, and to help her treatment, Burton was placed in an induced coma for 25 days. During that time, she contracted pneumonia twice and lost three stone.
Thankfully, Burton came through it, and after an intensive recovery programme, she returned to training in 2023. Then, after she missed out on the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, she featured at Paris 2024.
Her Red Roses debut came after impressing in west London, and as someone who regularly packs down alongside Burton in the backrow, Zackary is sure there will be more England caps to come.
“She’s representing this whole squad,” Zackary said. “What I love about Abi is her confidence in herself, and that’s something she brings to the team.
“She’s a super intelligent player. She knows what she wants, she knows what she wants to get out herself and someone like that only drives the standard higher for others around her.
“You need those leaders who lead by example, and who just get out and get the job done.”
The USA have had a taste of what it is to face John Mitchell’s England. They met in the opening match of the 2024 WXV1, and while England triumphed 61-21, Zackary scored one of the USA’s two tries in Vancouver.
The Kansas-native also featured in defeats to two other Six Nations teams, France and Ireland, though the USA won’t play either until the World Cup knockout rounds.
“We actually played England toe to toe until the last 15 minutes, and then, unfortunately, we let them slip in with three tries, but up until that moment we were within [a few] points of each other,” she said.
“We were playing one of the top teams, nose to nose, so I take a lot of confidence in that. For us, it’s just now being able to put together an 80-minute performance.
“I’m really positive. I’m really confident about this forward pack and we will build over the summer.”
Before the USA helps kick off the Rugby World Cup, they face Japan in a one-off test, and then take on Canada, Australia, and New Zealand in the Pacific Four Series.
The USA open up against Canada at the CPKC Stadium in Kansas City on 3 May. It is a match that is in line to set a new attendance record for a women’s international in the US, with about 8,000 tickets sold so far.
Following the Pacific Four Series, they then wrap up their matches against Fiji in July as part of a double header in Charlotte before the men’s national team take on England.
Many of the squad that competed in WXV 1 will be back, but there will be at least one new face in the form of Ilona Maher, the Olympic bronze medal-winning sevens player who is the most followed rugby player on social media with over eight million followers and counting on her channels.
Having decided to aim for a place in the Eagles’ squad for the World Cup, she followed Zackary and many other USA players across the Atlantic and impressed with her performances for Bristol Bears.
The 28-year-old scored on her first start and her final appearance, on the way to earning a place in Sione Fukofuka’s squad, while record crowds flocked to see her in action.
Zackary and Maher have played sevens together for the USA, though they missed out on facing each other in PWR, when a broken nose ruled Maher out of the match in west London.
“I’ve known Ilona now for a few years,” Zackary said. “I dabbled in sevens briefly, right as Ilona was coming into the system. So, it’s been cool to know the Ilona I met six, seven years ago, has become the person she’s become now.
“You talk about leading by example, and she’s someone who’s not afraid to go out and post about that [body confidence] and make sure that other people feel confident in who they are and drive standards up.
“She’s done well to go out, engage people, and make them fall in love with rugby. Sometimes what you need is someone who’s charismatic like that, and she’s very bold and confident to walk in a room and just talk to anyone, which is amazing.
“You’ve seen her now balancing it really well, making a name for herself and then also showing up, shutting the phone off and doing her business. That’s what people respect. She can be that person behind the phone, but she can be the person on the pitch as well.”
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It will be interesting to see how USA fare against Canada. I tend to feel that they are someway off the pace to challenge the top teams as they have too few world class players and don’t have the funding/time together to bridge the gap. I would go for Canada by 25+ points.