Maud Muir: England and Gloucester-Hartpury prop on returning ‘home’ to club

By Muir’s own admission, she was not in her best shape for the PWR opener, having had just two weeks off between the World Cup final win against Canada – with all the celebrations that ensued – before returning to training with her club.

Mentally, she also had to reset – coming down from the career-high of the triumph at Twickenham to returning “home” to her club for a new season six months after the last one ended.

“I did not lift a finger for two weeks after the World Cup final, [I] definitely don’t feel in my best shape,” Muir said.

“I felt like I could definitely have had a bit more time off but I was also ready to get back into it.

“It’s hard to know what you need or want after such a big high, it’s such a weird feeling and I don’t think it’s really talked about as much as it should be because it’s weird, you don’t really know what to do – getting back into Gloucester, getting back into the swing of things and having a bit more routine has been good.”

This Saturday, Muir returns to Sandy Park where she won her first England cap in 2021, as Gloucester-Hartpury travel down the M5 to take on Exeter.

After having just 10 days of training together before the Saracens match, Muir believes the team that “adapts and comes together the quickest” following the World Cup will be the team that comes out on top this season.

“We can definitely fine-tune a few of our calls and it’s probably going to be that side of things – fine-tuning rather than physical load this week,” Muir said.

“But I think we all know what we need to do and [are] just excited to get out and go down for our first away game.”