Maxine captained the England Women’s rugby union team, winning 45 caps. A veteran of three World Cups, in 2003 she led the team out on their historic first appearance at Twickenham, the home of English rugby, and in the same year captained the side to a Six Nations Grand Slam win.
She received an MBE in 2010 for services to Women’s Rugby.
A tough and uncompromising prop forward, Maxine played her club rugby with Saracens, Blackheath and Bromley. Throughout a career lasting 25 years, she juggled rugby with study at Greenwich, motherhood and her work as a business analyst and then as a teacher.
She is now Head of IT at Charles Darwin School in south-east London.
