How sport helps Bluck's autism journey

In just her fourth ever game of rugby league on Saturday, Hannah Bluck became a Wales international in a fourth sport, and her fifth sport overall.

As well as 15 rugby union caps, she has international football caps at under-16, under-17 and under-19 age levels, as well as in basketball.

She also played rugby sevens for Great Britain in the summer.

But perhaps the most impressive thing for Bluck is how she is using her autism to thrive and learning to adapt to change, as she competes in a new sport.

"Autism is a massive spectrum," she said.

"You get people who excel and their specialities are dinosaurs or computers.

"Mine is sport, so that's my main focus and like that's the thing that I love doing."

The 29-year-old from Porthcawl left rugby union side Exeter Chiefs this summer before playing three games of league with Cardiff Demons.

Bluck says the coaches have been brilliant in helping her beast adapt to the change of sport for her learning style.

"The coaches do diagrams and stuff for me so it's easier for me to visually see it," she told BBC World Service's programme Sportsworld.

"When it comes to training they do a practice run that I'll watch first so I can visually see it before taking part in it.

"They understand that, which is good."

She credits her room-mate Ffion Lewis with helping her to be confident to share her autism with the rest of the squad who Bluck says have been "very supportive".

"Ffion said, 'oh Blucky I think it would be good for you to like just open up to girls so they understand you a bit better'.

"Sometimes I'm really bubbly and then outside of training I'm like a closed book then.

"When I do sport, I'm an open book and that's where I excel and I feel like my most confident.

"When I come out of that then I just go back into my shell because I struggle with like social settings and stuff.

"I have pride in it [sport] and it's where I make my friends, that's where I feel a part of a family and where I feel myself."

Bluck grew up with four brothers and started kicking a football from a young age.

The family environment was an encouraging one for her sporting ambitions.

"I was like a tomboy growing up, obviously rough and tumble," she said.

"My older brother Tom would go down the park and play football and I used to go and do heads and volleys with him.

"A massive part of all that, I would say, is my parents taking me to games.

"My mum used to take me everywhere to matches.

"When I'd done football, I used to go up to England to play so my mum was up and down on the M4, taking me to games.

"I'm just very grateful for my family, really, just supporting me to be able to do sport."

Bluck's flourishing football career was stalled as she dislocated her ankle and fractured her fibula in 2013.

During her recovery, she was diagnosed with Avascular necrosis (AVN) of her distal tibia, a rare condition which causes a lack of blood supply to the shinbone.

After surgery and taking up weight training, she returned to football two years later, but lost interest and enjoyment in the game after moving teams.

She began playing rugby union at the age of 19 while studying for a degree in strength and conditioning at the University of South Wales.

While she did not manage to emulate her try-scoring debut in 2018 in union, it remained a proud day for Bluck against England.

"It means everything really," she said.

"A bit overwhelmed, I'm in shock that I've actually represented my country in four sports, it doesn't feel real.

"It was always going to be a tough game against England because they're obviously a bigger nation than us and we're a smaller nation.

"We did have glimpses of good play, it's just obviously finishing, being clinical.

"England were able to do that, whereas like we missed our opportunities."

As she counts the bruises from her first league international, Bluck reflected on the differences between the two codes.

"League is a lot of running," she said.

"After the game against England, I said to the girls, 'league is much harder physically than union'.

"I love tackling but yeah, it's more physical than union, I think.

"My body's in bits!"

Despite the heavy defeat, Bluck is confident the team can still bounce back in the tournament.

"Our aim is to definitely win, but it's the little wins, finishing off our execution, scoring a try, just being positive really," she added.

"It's going to be a hard tournament because our pool isn't easy.

"We've got Samoa and then Australia, two more hard matches.

"I feel like we're all close together and everyone checks in with one another.

"We have built a culture in this team, which is great, and everyone's around each other, sticking together."

Regardless of how the rest of the tournament goes for Wales, Bluck remains grateful.

"I'm having to pinch myself every now and then but I've always remained humble," she concluded.

"I'm just grateful for the opportunity that I've gotten and people believing in me.

"I wanted to do it [play in a World Cup] in union and I didn't get the chance to so being able to do it in League just means everything.

"I want to be a role model and just having kids look up to me and hopefully they'll follow in my footsteps when they grow up."