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England prop Vickii Cornborough has announced she is pregnant with twins.
The 33-year-old was part of the Red Roses World Cup squad last year, but has not played since then for what were described as ‘personal reasons’.
The Harlequins player is the second member of the World Cup squad to announce their pregnancy, following Bristol lock Abbie Ward.
Both Ward and Cornborough will benefit from the Rugby Football Union’s new maternity policy introduced this year.
England women’s players are now entitled to 26 weeks’ fully-paid maternity leave as well as funds for children to travel to games with them.
Cornborough is expecting the twins at the end of July.
The majority of England women’s international players have had professional contracts since 2019, but the RFU did not previously have a maternity policy designed specifically for players.
Ward was the first contracted England woman to become pregnant since the Red Roses went professional in 2019.
The new policy was created with the Rugby Players’ Association (RPA) and the input of players themselves including Cornborough, who is the vice-chair of the RPA and was the first woman to be elected into a leadership role with the association.
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