“You won’t play the World Cup.”
They were the first words Piper Duck heard after she injured a shoulder in March in a collision she thought had ruled her out of the women’s Rugby World Cup.
It’s been a long exhausting road for the Wallaroos back-rower to get to the global showpiece, suffering a string of crushing injuries over the course of two years, with the latest almost ruling her out of the tournament completely.
Going down while playing for the NSW Waratahs in the Super Rugby Women’s semifinal earlier this year, Duck thought her World Cup dream was over. Just weeks after injuring her left shoulder in pre-season, ruling her out for the opening game of the year, she copped a heavy blow once again but this time completely tearing her AC in her right shoulder.
It was a hammer blow for the 24-year-old who’d already fought back from a foot injury in 2023 that meant she never had the chance to captain her side despite being named as the side’s leader by then coach Jay Tregonning. She then missed the Wallaroos tour of Ireland and Wales and the WXV2 tournament at the end of 2024 through an ankle surgery.
To simply take the pitch in 2025 she was receiving cortisone injections in each shoulder.
But after such a long and hard-fought battle, Duck wasn’t going to call it quits that easily. Instead, after consulting surgeons and the team doctor, she had a decision to make, have surgery now and miss the World Cup, or rehab hard for several months and make a final push for selection during the side’s final Test matches in July.
“One of the first conversations I had with the doctor is that you won’t play the World Cup. That was one of my first conversations,” Duck said ahead of the tournament kick-off. “It’s quite shattering hearing that at the time, but I spoke to a few people, got a few other opinions and then went and saw a surgeon.
“I had kind of already made the decision two days in that I was going conservative and then two days later I was in the gym. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I was there because I had a really tight timeline to get back.
“It was a grind. So basically I had three months after a posterior dislocation to make the World Cup and thankfully it worked.”
Given the tight timeline, Duck pushed herself to the limit, determined to pull the Wallaroos jersey on in their final World Cup auditions. Twelve weeks later she lined up for the Australia A squad to face Samoa, before she featured off the bench for the Wallaroos against New Zealand and Wales and started in the side’s farewell clash in Sydney.
Given her long list of injuries, the back-rower is almost covered head-to-toe with strapping tape when she takes to the field, with both her shoulders now strapped in with AC pads protecting her joints. And while hitting the gym is a matter of course for athletes, especially in their return from injury, Duck knew there was a mental side to recovery that she had to overcome as well.
“I actually spoke to a sports psychologist through it,” Duck said. “I knew my mental block was going to be carrying because that’s how I’d injured myself.
“Honestly, not until I started training properly [did I feel confident in my shoulder]. Those first contacts, those first hits [were hard].
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have any thoughts, but it wasn’t about my shoulder, it was more can I play footy?
“I know it sounds crazy but after having that long out, you’re like have I got it? Obviously it’s not something you lose, I understand that, but at that point I did have that thought.
“But at training I just made sure I ran into the biggest people on the field. I made sure I tackled the biggest person on the team because I needed to know I could do it before getting on to a genuine Test match to have to do it.
“Thankfully, it all worked out really well, but it was quite daunting. It was really daunting initially.”
Scrubbed out of five fixtures, including four Wallaroos Tests, Duck was no certainty of making the trip to England, which made her second World Cup call-up even sweeter. Especially with all 32-squad members given the news of their selection together.
“Honestly ecstatic,” Duck said when asked about her selection. “I think I actually verbally screamed when I found out that I would be going to the World Cup.
“After injuries and everything I’ve been through it was one of those surreal moments. To have the opportunity to attend my second World Cup in itself is absolutely incredible, and after the injuries I’ve had over the last two and a half years, that’s a pretty special feeling.
“As you go through your rugby journey, there’s certain things I actually realise now I don’t remember. I remember my last World Cup, I have really special moments, but I actually don’t remember that phone call from my last World Cup and I will never forget having that moment in a room with 32 other women hysterically crying and just having that moment together. That moment was just really special.”
Duck is now preparing to play in the Wallaroos opening Test against Samoa with Australia’s World Cup expectations of reaching the quarterfinals relying on a big opening win before taking on the USA in the second pool match, with a win against their Pac4 rivals all but certain to see them reach the knockout stage.
