If you’ve somehow not clocked Meg Jones yet, here’s your catch-up. The 29-year-old centre is England Women’s Rugby captain, a World Cup winner, an Olympian, an MBE, and the founder of her own clothing brand – all while being one of the most entertaining players on a rugby pitch anywhere in the world. She also turned up to her own captaincy announcement in board-short cargos, Birkenstocks and a red cowboy hat. We’re obsessed.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Who is Meg Jones?
Meg Jones – or Magic Meg, as she’s come to be known – is a centre for Trailfinders Women and captain of the England Red Roses. Born in Cardiff to an English mum and a Welsh dad, she grew up in the shadow of the Principality Stadium before making the move to England at 16 to study at Hartpury College and, eventually, Loughborough University where she got a BSc in Sport Science and Management. She’s been a fixture in the England set-up ever since – and has now 33 caps, 13 tries and 11 try assists to her name.
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Why does she play for England and not Wales?
Yes, she’s Cardiff-born. Yes, her dad was a die-hard Wales fan. And yes, she still chose the Red Roses. She moved to England at 16 to pursue her rugby career and hasn’t looked back. Her dad, for his part, watched every single one of her England games regardless – which, honestly, says everything you need to know about both of them.
What’s the Magic Meg thing about?
It started as a commentator’s nickname – a nod to the way she plays, all instinct and impact, conjuring something from nothing. She leaned into it when she launched her own clothing brand, also called Magic Meg, just before the 2025 World Cup. The name has a second meaning too: her dad loved magic. Card tricks, a fake one-pound coin, levitating things at the dinner table – the full works. Launching the brand was partly a way of keeping him close after he died in 2024. Her mum passed away a few months later. Both gone within four months of each other.
It’s a lot. And she’s handled it with a grace that would floor most people.
Has she won anything?
A few things, yeah. She was part of the England squad that won a Grand Slam in the 2025 Women’s Six Nations, then went on to win the Women’s Rugby World Cup on home soil – in front of a record crowd of nearly 82,000 at Twickenham – beating Canada 33-13 in the final. She played every single game of that tournament as vice-captain. She’s also represented Team GB in Sevens at two Olympic Games, Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024. Oh, and she has an MBE. Did we mention the MBE?
How did she become England captain?
When 2025 captain Zoe Stratford announced she was pregnant, Jones stepped up. She was already embedded in the leadership group and had been vice-captain through the World Cup campaign, so it wasn’t a surprise to anyone watching – except, apparently, Meg herself. She’s said she never assumed she was next in line. But when head coach John Mitchell asked, she said yes without hesitation. Her first game as captain came in front of more than 75,000 fans at Twickenham for the 2026 Women’s Six Nations opener against Ireland. No pressure.
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Is Meg Jones gay?
Jones is engaged to her partner Celia Quansah. She doesn’t appear to put a label on it publicly, but she’s been open about her relationship and got engaged in 2025 – one of several things that made for an extremely full year.
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What is she actually like?
Loud, warm, extremely good at filling a room. One journalist described her bounding around the Allianz Stadium ahead of the World Cup, heckling at the back of a press conference before sitting down to give one of the most candid interviews of the tournament. She talks about grief and joy sitting alongside each other, about rugby giving her a platform to lean on the people around her, about wanting to just have fun and ride the waves. She means it.
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