{"id":953944,"date":"2026-11-05T21:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T21:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/953944\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T21:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T21:02:17","slug":"wallaroos-wunderkind-caitlyn-halse-eager-to-tackle-englands-premiership-womens-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/953944\/","title":{"rendered":"Wallaroos wunderkind Caitlyn Halse eager to tackle England’s Premiership Women’s Rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do not let Caitlyn Halse’s nickname deceive you.<\/p>\n

The Wallaroos fullback, who turned 20 in September, might be known as “The Kid” but she is wise beyond her years.<\/p>\n

This was clear when Halse recently explained to ABC Sport how she was approaching an upcoming stint with Leicester Tigers in England’s Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) competition.<\/p>\n

“I’ve still got a lot to learn around my game, in attack and defence,” said Halse, who has played 18 Tests.<\/p>\n

“I’m willing and eager to learn.<\/p>\n

“I just want to go over there and soak up all the information I can and bring it back to Australia and use that to my advantage for the Wallaroos.”<\/p>\n

\"Caitlyn<\/p>\n

Caitlyn Halse (right) has played 18 Tests for the Wallaroos. (Getty Images: Darrian Traynor)<\/p>\n

Halse has already achieved a great deal in her promising rugby career.<\/p>\n

She became the youngest player in Wallaroos\/Wallabies history to make a Test debut, managing the feat as a 17-year-old in 2024.<\/p>\n

Her first Rugby World Cup appearance came the following year but as Halse points out, she is not the finished product.<\/p>\n

She believes her game can reach another level in PWR, which is described by its organisers, with justification, as the “world’s leading domestic women’s rugby competition”.<\/p>\n

Nine clubs contest PWR across an 18-round season before two weeks of finals decide the champion.<\/p>\n

Australia’s domestic equivalent, Super Rugby Women’s, has five teams (Waratahs, Reds, Brumbies, Force and Fijian Drua) playing four round-robin matches each ahead of a two-week finals series.<\/p>\n

PWR attracts players from Australasia, Europe and North America, and features the entire world champion England squad, who are full-time.<\/p>\n

England’s governing body, the Rugby Football Union (RFU), recognises PWR’s importance.<\/p>\n

RFU announced in June it was committing 24 million pounds ($46.1 million) to PWR across 10 years, which is a further illustration of the wise investment it has made in women’s rugby since first offering full-time contracts to players in 2019.<\/p>\n

\"Tabua<\/p>\n

Wallaroos back-rower Tabua Tuinakauvadra will also play for Leicester. (Getty Images: Paul Harding)<\/p>\n

Rugby Australia (RA) is mindful of PWR’s status as the world’s best domestic competition, which is why it encourages Wallaroos players to seek opportunities with the English clubs.<\/p>\n

Halse will be joined by Wallaroos teammates Tabua Tuinakauvadra and Ash Fernandez at Leicester, while uncapped Australian Grace Freeman is also on the Tigers’ books.<\/p>\n

Another Wallaroo, prop Bridie O’Gorman, will play for PWR’s Gloucester Hartpury.<\/p>\n

“Gaining experience in a competition like the PWR will be invaluable for the players’ development as we build a Wallaroos program with the goal of competing on the final weekend at the Rugby World Cup in 2029,” RA director of high performance Peter Horne said in June.<\/p>\n

‘A different type of rugby’<\/p>\n

One of the Wallaroos’ most consistent players in 2026, Kaitlan Leaney, knows firsthand the benefit of playing in PWR.<\/p>\n

She spent time with the famous Harlequins club earlier in her career.<\/p>\n

“I learned so much,” Leaney told ABC Sport last month.<\/p>\n

“I definitely think I wouldn’t be the player I am or the person I am today without that experience.<\/p>\n

“I went over there at the age of 22 and played three years over there.<\/p>\n

\"Kaitlan<\/p>\n

Kaitlan Leaney had a stint playing for Harlequins in PWR. (Getty Images: Henry Browne)<\/p>\n

“The way my game grew in terms of playing consistent games and so many games \u2026 you’ve got internationals all across the park in all the clubs.<\/p>\n

“I think the standard and level you’re playing at each week is really special.”<\/p>\n

Halse similarly wants to make the most of her PWR opportunity when the 2026\/27 season kicks off in a fortnight’s time.<\/p>\n

“I’m just super excited to experience a different type of rugby,” Halse said.<\/p>\n

“They’ve got girls from Canada, USA and all over Europe.<\/p>\n

“I’m just keen to go over there and learn something new and experience something different.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Do not let Caitlyn Halse’s nickname deceive you. The Wallaroos fullback, who turned 20 in September, might be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":953945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,521630,1208,123535,521631,760,2633,15131,85,2500,19259,21418],"class_list":["post-953944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-caitlyn-halse","tag-england","tag-leicester","tag-premiership-womens-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-union","tag-rugby-world-cup","tag-sports","tag-wallabies","tag-wallaroos","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=953944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/953945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=953944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=953944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=953944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}