A nurse and Trailfinders Women centre - How Carys Cox is Powered Differently

When Carys Cox isn’t scoring tries for Wales and Trailfinders Women, she’s making a difference off the pitch.

The 25-year-old centre has been a focal point of the West Londoners’ attacking force since the club entered Premiership Women’s Rugby last year and she made her Test debut just a few months prior.

Away from rugby, however, Cox is a registered nurse working on a high care neuro ward in Cardiff.

Her passion for healthcare was as evident as her passion for rugby, as she followed in her family’s footsteps in both of her careers.

“Lots of things drew me to nursing but probably the main thing was my family,” Cox said. “I’ve got about three to four nurses in the family and that had a heavy influence.

“From a young age I had a real interest in healthcare, so it just seemed like the natural path.

“I started playing rugby when I was about six years old at my local club, Hungerford. “There wasn’t a youth section at the time, but my dad started up a local summer camp, obviously me and my brother got dragged along and from there it’s history.

“He's a very proud Welshman so my ambition has always been to play for Wales.”

Cox’s story is one of nine being told this week as part of a new campaign from Premiership Women's Rugby called Powered Differently which focuses on just a few of the superhuman players across the league.

Alongside Cox the campaign features players like doctor Simi Pam at Bristol Bears, teacher Sydney Gregson at Saracens and RAF Flight Lieutenant Lucy Nye at Exeter Chiefs.

Cox cares primarily for patients who have varying severities of brain injury, and this experience has equipped her with skills that are essential to nursing and rugby.

“Kindness and a caring nature is the main asset of a nurse but you’ve also got to be very switched on with your time management, your people skills, your teamwork,” Cox said.

“I’d say some aspects of nursing and rugby are very similar. I’ve mentioned teamwork – it’s a massive part of nursing and it’s a massive part of rugby but you’re also problem-solving day-to day in a nursing environment quickly and on the pitch.”

“It’s very mentally stimulating; you’re genuinely making a difference in people’s lives.

“I know it’s very cliché, but you are genuinely making a difference every day.

“For me I always need to be in a job where I’m being pushed and there’s room for me to grow. Nursing is a profession where you can do that, and you’re also surrounded by people 24/7 which makes me happy.”

Despite having a tough balancing act between her rugby career and impressive healthcare work, Cox revels in the challenge.

And the outside centre also sees nursing as key for her future beyond the sport.

“I’m a bit of a motivator for myself, a massive part of me doing nursing is having something to fall back on post-rugby,” she said.

“I’m a firm believer in nothing worth having comes easy so putting the work in now in environments like this is really going to set me up.

“It’s hard work doing both full time, but it’s always been about prioritising and making sure you feel good every day.”

Trailfinders Women will look to improve from their impressive sixth place finish on debut last season.

But first Cox heads to South Africa hoping to bolster Wales’ first WXV2 campaign.