Sale Sharks have signed versatile centre-turned forward Katie Childs from Leicester Tigers ahead of the 2025/26 PWR season.
The 25-year-old, who was playing in the backs until last season when she made the switch to the back-row, has signed a one-year deal to join up once again with Tom Hudson and Luke Stratford, who coached her at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
Born in Bolton, Katie moved to Sweden with her family as a child and first picked up a ball as an 11-year-old. She returned to the UK in 2019 and joined the Worcester Warriors development squad.
In 2020 she joined Lichfield Ladies and was part of the initial Lichfield-Leicester Tigers squad formed through the clubs’ partnership in 2021.
She played in Tigers first ever women’s game, against Bishop Auckland in the RFU Championship, in September 2022. In total she played 47 times for Leicester, scoring 16 tries and 43 conversions, and her 166 points make her Tigers’ all-time top points scorer.
Katie said: “I had been wanting to move back up the north to be closer to my family and when I heard that Tom and Luke were coming to Sale, it felt like the perfect opportunity.
“They have the perfect balance of knowing when to work hard and when to have fun and they are both really passionate about improving players as people. I can’t wait to work with them again.
“Every time you play against Sale you can see the infectious energy that the players have. You can see they have genuinely close relationships and love supporting and working for each other. I wanted to be a part of that environment.
“I also love the Sale Sharks style of play. I love the physical, contact side of the game and I think it’s the perfect move.”
Sharks Women Head Coach Tom Hudson said: “Katie was a centre at Leicester but we turned her into a back-row last season. I was missing physicality in the back-row and we gave her a go in the big game against Quins and she did really well.
“She’s a really hard worker and she gives so much go-forward in every area of the field. With a whole pre-season of training as a back-row we’re confident she’ll be a really good, versatile addition to the squad.”
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