Sacrifices all worth it for new Sale Sharks recruit Sara Cline

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Sara Cline has sacrificed the sunny shores of Australian for the rain of Manchester in order to play her part in the inexorable rise of Canadian rugby.

The hooker is the latest addition at Sale Sharks, with the Edmonton-native making a memorable debut in Sharks’ 12-7 win away at Exeter Chiefs last weekend.

It is a long way from practicing her lineout throws against a pickleball wall back home in Canada, but she revealed the risk of going overseas is paying off massively. “If you would have told me when I was 16 that I would be playing in a professional league or even for my country, I'd probably lose my mind, but now it seems so routine.” she explained. “The progression in Canada and at grassroots rugby has really come a long way and there's lots of opportunities especially for girls to play good rugby all throughout Canada. “There is outstanding buy in from all of the Canadian players.

There's a lot in the PWR and then there's quite a few that train and treat it like a job at home. “Wherever we are and whatever capacity we can be in, we've all bought into it just wanting to be the best.”Cline joins a swathe of Canadian internationals plying their trade in PWR, including World Rugby Women’ 15s Dream Team players Alex Tessier and Sophie de Goede.