As England approach the Six Nations in a World Cup year, the centre juggles grief and guilt after losing her father to cancer and mother to alcoholism

“I’ll just use my sleeve,” Meg Jones says softly as the tears slide down her face. The England centre tries to stem the flow of pain while I scuffle around in search of a tissue in one of my pockets. It takes a while, but I finally dig out a stray sheet of kitchen towel.

Jones laughs, while still crying, as she accepts my scrunched-up offering and assurance that it is unused. She wipes her eyes and continues talking about the personal tragedies of the past year. Jones’s childhood was haunted by her mother’s alcoholism and then, between August and December, both her parents died – her Welsh dad, Simon, and then her English mum, Paula.