What I’d be eating if I was playing my first game of rugby this weekend

She’s Gotta Try · Sep 7, 2026 · 25m

This week I'm talking about something that comes up every single time a new player is about to step over the white line for the first time: how do you actually fuel for a full game of rugby when you've never played one before?

I've just come off a call with one of my clients who is playing her first ever game of contact rugby this Sunday, and it reminded me how much this catches people out. You might have been a runner, a CrossFitter, a hyrox girl, you might have done years of strength training. None of that quite prepares you for what 80 minutes of rugby actually demands.

I talk through why…