Jade Mullen: The Army Officer playing for Wales at a World Cup

Jade Mullen’s journey to the Women’s Rugby League World Cup has been an unconventional one.

A last-minute code switch within the sport allowed her to earn a place in Wales’ squad for the showpiece tournament in Australia.

Mullen has plenty of rugby union experience having captained the Army’s team at high-profile venues like Twickenham.

But she had never played rugby league until January this year after Wales captain Bethan Dainton, who is also enlisted in the British Army, encouraged her to try the 13-a-side game.

She started training with London Broncos and the rest, as they say, is history.

“Me and Bethan have been close friends for a few years. She’s played rugby league much longer than me and she always said that I’d enjoy it, so I thought I’d give it a go,” Mullen explained.

“I joined London Broncos at the start of the season so was training with them from January onwards ready for the season to kick off in March. I fell in love with the sport so I’m really enjoying it.

“For a while I was training twice a week at London Broncos and then also doing rugby union training at the same time. That was tiring.”