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Rugby's family fortunes: From a Hollywood movie star dad to a World-Cup winning auntie
When the loosehead prop Hannah Botterman made her England debut, on the sidelines, her aunt shed a tear; knowing full well what it meant to wear the Red Rose for the first time. Jane Everett also knows what it feels like to lift the Rugby World Cup, having been part of the victorious England side of 1994, a feat her niece's team will try to emulate on home soil this September.
Everett, an unused replacement tighthead prop when England beat the United States 38-23 in Edinburgh, also coached another member of the 2025 cohort, the prop Kelsey Clifford, at Old Albanian Juniors once she retired from playing.
'It's been great to see them actually live my dream,' says Everett, who played American Football before transferring her skills to rugby. 'When I played it was always: 'Wouldn't it be amazing to be a professional rugby player?'
'I remember having to ask for time off work to be able to be in the squad in Scotland and then we had to pay for our own kit. So the tracksuit and the socks and the shorts and then the actual England shirt – I think we had two – that had to be washed between games.'
Botterman's connections don't stop with Everett – her uncle, Gregg, played for Saracens and both her parents played for local clubs. Her mother worked her way up to the England Academy but went no further. 'She actually blames it on me, because she fell pregnant with me when she was coming up,' Botterman told Sky Sports.
'She's always been around rugby clubs. So there's no surprise that when she was old enough that her dad took her to their local rugby club, Datchworth,' Everett says of her niece.
'When Hannah got selected to play for England, that was obviously quite a proud moment because I knew what she was feeling. I went and saw her play and get her first cap and that was just really special; when they lined up on the pitch and sang the national anthems that brought a tear to my eye.'
The 26-year-old Botterman's family legacy is one of many among the 512 players assembling in England; from the New Zealand winger Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, whose father, Kawhena Woodman and uncle Fred Woodman both won caps for the All Blacks, to Canada's captain Sophie de Goede, whose parents Stephanie and Hans preceded her as leaders of the women's and men's national teams.
Botterman's fellow Red Rose, Maddie Feaunati, has been one of the statement selections in the John Mitchell era and the back-row is one of four sporty sisters whose father Zak Feaunati is a former Samoa No 8, who also played Jonah Lomu in the 2009 film Invictus.
Siblings are highly represented at England 2025, including those from home nations teams; Wales even boast two pairs of sisters from the same north Wales club, Nant Conwy – the Pyrs sisters, Gwenllian and Alaw and the Metcalfes, Nel and Branwen – while Rhea and Ellian Clarke are set to represent Scotland. Meanwhile, when the Wallaroos hooker Katalina Amosa made her debut this year, she said her already-capped Wallaby brother Brandon Paenga-Amosa was more emotional than she was. 'I called him and he was all red and flustered. He was really excited. He's been giving me advice every day since I told him. He just told me to go do my job and just make the family proud.'
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Amosa and Paenga-Amosa were preceded in Australia's sibling combinations by Adiana Talakai and her brother Sam. Talakai, another hooker selected in Jo Yapp's squad for England 2025, also counts England legends Mako and Billy Vunipola among her cousins.
Welsh-born Sisilia Tuipulotu packed down in the opposing front row to Amosa during Wales's recent World Cup warm-up tour. Tuipulotu's father, Sione, played for Tonga and her brother Kepu plays for Bath and England Under-20s while the Wales men's No 8, Taulupe Faletau, is her cousin. France, meanwhile, have called up uncapped 23-year-old prop Makarita Baleinadogo, the daughter of former Fiji centre Daniele who started at her father's then club, AS Macon aged seven and boasts a degree in languages from the University of Grenoble.
As family pedigree goes though, few can top that of Woodman-Wickliffe, rugby union's leading World Cup try-scorer.
Not only did her father and uncle turn out for the All Blacks but her aunt, Te Aroha Keenan, played international netball for New Zealand. Where rugby wasn't an option for Woodman-Wickliffe at school, she played netball under her aunt, the school's coach and deputy principal. Her skill and determination saw her selected for the national netball team, before a leap of faith to a grassroots initiative that selected talent for a new sevens squad for the Rio Olympics.
After winning a second Olympic gold medal at Paris 2024, she said: 'I'm just proud of the person I've become, proud of the journey I've had. I've gone from a shy netball girl to a rugby player who is now world-renowned.'
