Gloucester-Hartpury sign Wallaroos prop Bridie O'Gorman
Gloucester-Hartpury have signed Australia tight-head prop Bridie O'Gorman for the 2026-27 Premiership Women's Rugby season.
O'Gorman is 27. She will link up with the English club after the WXV Series, World Rugby's global competition for women's national teams.
She packs down on the right-hand side of the scrum, the tight-head position that anchors the entire set-piece. It is one of the most technical jobs in rugby. Get it right and your team marches forward. Get it wrong and the scrum collapses. O'Gorman has won 43 caps — international appearances — for the Wallaroos, Australia's women's national team, since making her debut in 2022, according to BBC Sport.
That is a heavy workload in four years. It includes two Rugby World Cups. She played at the delayed 2021 tournament and then again at the Women's Rugby World Cup held in England last year.
She arrives from the NSW Waratahs, her club in Australia's Super Rugby Women's competition. The timing matters for supporters. International players involved in the WXV will miss the very start of club preparations, with Gloucester-Hartpury confirming on their official website that O'Gorman will join after that tournament.
Her story is unusual. O'Gorman did not start playing rugby until she was 19, which is late for a front-row forward. Props usually need years to learn the dark arts of scrummaging, the binding, footwork and body angles that keep the scrum legal and stable. She reached Test level within three years.
Gloucester-Hartpury, led by head of rugby Dan Murphy, begin the new league season on 21 November away at Sale Sharks. The league is branded this season as the JAECOO Premiership, according to RugbyPass.
For fans, this means early reinforcement in a key spot. A tight-head with 43 Tests and two World Cups brings durability for a long winter. Gloucester-Hartpury like to play at pace, and that only works if the scrum gives them clean, quick ball.
