Giselle Mather

Playing career

Club Rugby Mather's first playing experience came at an invitational Sevens tournament, where she suffered a burst blood vessel in her eye.

During university, Mather managed to balance her commitments to both hockey (which she played for Exeter) and rugby. Every weekend, she would take the train from Exeter to London to play for Teddington, with the club covering her travel expenses.

The win also brought increased visibility for women's rugby, with England's triumph earning a 15-minute feature on the BBC sports programme Grandstand,

From 2001 to 2004, Mather served as head coach of Wasps Ladies, leading the team to back-to-back Premiership titles in 2003 and 2004. She then joined the England set-up and as England Senior Women's Backs Coach helped guide the team to Grand Slam success in 2006 as well as getting to the World Cup final in the same year where they were Runners Up. She then became England Women U20s Head Coach and was unbeaten in three seasons.

This success led to an opportunity to become the first female coach of a men's team when Teddington offered her a role as coach of the senior men's team in 2008. A 62-game unbeaten streak followed with three consecutive promotions, and two Twickenham victories in the RFU National Junior Vase and Senior Vase competitions.

Concurrently, Mather had been hired by Toby Booth into the London Irish Academy, working with Elite Player Development Groups and managing the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) program. However, despite success in male coaching, extensive qualifications and experience, Mather watched male colleagues achieve promotion into senior coaching roles while she remained overlooked, and she decided to leave London Irish in 2015. Catherine Spencer described this is a "frustrating end to [Mather's] time at London Irish", for "one of the best coaches in the country".

That same year, the England Women's head coach position became available following the departure of Gary Street. Mather was widely seen as a leading candidate for the role. However, to widespread surprise, she was not even granted an interview. This prompted Mather to take a year-long break from coaching and allowed her to reassess her career.

In 2022, Mather was appointed Director of Women's Rugby at Ealing Trailfinders, tasked with building the women's program from the ground up. Under her leadership, Ealing secured their place in the Allianz Premier 15s, ensuring their participation in the top tier of English women's rugby. She also played a crucial role in player recruitment and development, helping to establish a competitive squad. Her tenure helped lay the foundations for Ealing's long-term ambitions in elite women's rugby, and she remained in the role until 2024.

In September 2024, Mather was appointed head coach of the Great Britain women's national rugby sevens team, marking her return to the international stage.

Teams coached 2001–2004 - Wasps Ladies – Head Coach, Premiership Champions (2003, 2004) September 2024– May 2025 - Great Britain women's national rugby sevens team – Head Coach

Teaching career

Before transitioning to full-time coaching, Mather worked as a PE teacher. She taught at Shene School until 1996. Mather (then Prangnell) recalled raffle tickets being advertised at a school assembly to help fund the travel and accommodation for the World Cup trip. At the time of her World Cup triumph, Mather recalled returning to school and being met with an assembly of over 1,000 students cheering "Miss Prangnell" as a world champion, a moment that reinforced the impact of the achievement of the women's team. In 1996 she moved to Orleans Park School in Twickenham, where she also served as Head of Year 7. She took the Orleans Park School girls rugby squad to the London Heathrow Games in 1999, where they represented Richmond and won the gold medal.

Personal life

Mather married Peter Mather, a former Teddington Antlers player, in May 1999 in Richmond upon Thames. The couple has three children: Jasper, Roxy, and Barny. When pursuing her Level 3 coaching course, then the only woman to have done so, Mather had to take her baby daughter Roxy on one coaching course because she was breast feeding. Mather went into labour with her third child, Barny, whilst coaching Wasps in an April 2004 league match against Richmond. She recalled having a "massive contraction and having to stop talking" half-way through the half-time team talk, but didn't leave for hospital until the match finished.