CUP DEBUT JUST FAB FOR ABI

ABI BURTON never gave up on playing in a World Cup and makes her tournament debut today just three years after a horrifying brush with death.

- BY ADAM HATHAWAY

The Trailfinders flanker beat the odds to play rugby again.

In 2022, Burton, (right) then a sevens international and Olympian, was diagnosed with autoimmune encephalitis, a condition which meant her immune system was mistakenly attacking her brain.