Life could have been very different for Rosie Galligan. When the Harlequins second-row runs out to make her Rugby World Cup debut against South Africa in Auckland on Sunday, an arduous journey through some punishing yet character-forming experiences will be complete.

Three years ago she faced the grim possibility of a double leg amputation due to a bout of meningitis. Her impressively swift recovery from that episode, over several weeks, was promptly followed by a career-threatening injury. She was dropped in a lineout which caused her left ankle to shatter and it required several pins to be reconstructed.

The result was a three-year gap between Galligan’s first international cap, in 2019, and her return against Scotland in March. By the time England’s 32-player World Cup squad was announced in September she had seven caps and a Six Nations title, although unlike many teammates, the 24-year-old does not have a full-time playing contract. At least not yet.

Time is divided between her role as a community rugby officer at Harlequins and playing. After her brush with life-threatening illness, Galligan is also an ambassador for the charity Meningitis Now. Her pathway, it is safe to say, has not been typical of an elite sportsperson.

Having battled back into the England reckoning there is nothing the former Saracens lock takes for granted: health and fitness, a career in rugby, and certainly not her place at a tournament that was postponed for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Sometimes I take a step back and think: if the World Cup had been in 2021, I wouldn’t even have had a look-in,” Galligan explains from England’s team hotel in Auckland. “If it wasn’t for meningitis and breaking my ankle, I don’t think I’d be here, because it gave me a new sense of direction, a new drive and mentality. I recreated myself as a rugby player and I definitely had to get a lot stronger mentally.

“Those couple of years were the lowest of the lows. Now I’m on the highest of highs in New Zealand, with 31 other girls around me who all have the same dream: to win a World Cup.”

After an opening 84-19 win over Fiji, England emerged 13-7 victors from a tight, relentlessly physical contest against France last Saturday. That assured progress from Pool C but with knockout seedings to be determined, victory in their concluding pool match tomorrow – preferably with a bonus point – would represent a significant step forward for the tournament favourites.

“We know they’re very strong ball carriers,” Galligan says of the challenge presented by South Africa. “They’ve got some stand-out players and we know we’re going to have to try and take them out of the game. France were a lot more structured, and we know South Africa will probably be a bit more like Fiji: so how can we take away their threats?”

South Africa are bottom of Pool C after two losses while England are on a record-breaking 27-match winning streak. In keeping with Galligan’s outlook, however, it is one step at a time.

“This is all stepping stones and building blocks,” says Galligan, who will pack down in the second row with Cath O’Donnell. “It’s a case of getting the job done, having a reset, and going again for the quarters.”

Maro Itoje is her second-row role model, Galligan says – “I like how he can create havoc from nothing”. Her own athleticism, power and workrate are qualities that got Galligan on the plane.

It is all a learning curve, though, and travelling to the other side of the world has revealed the luxury of in-flight entertainment.

“I’ve never really travelled too far,” says Galligan, who was born in north London and brought up in Kent. “Family holidays were to Portugal or France so this is definitely the furthest I’ve travelled. Before we left I said to the girls ‘Make sure you download films to your iPad’. And they were like ‘Rosie, there are TVs on the plane’.”

Galligan’s parents have arrived in New Zealand. Who knows what the knockout stages may hold – perhaps an encounter against the Black Ferns on home territory? “To play the hosts would be incredible,” she says. “What a momentous occasion it would be. I’ve never stood in front of the haka, so that would be the pinnacle of my career so far.

“The fact I’m here is such a big achievement. If it wasn’t for meningitis and breaking my ankle I would have been your standard player, but it’s given me something to say ‘I came back. I proved people wrong. I proved to myself I could do it’.”

Great obstacles have been overcome. Galligan’s next chapter begins on Sunday.