England women's national rugby union team

England

Union	Rugby Football Union
Emblem(s)	Red Rose
Ground(s)	Twickenham
Coach(es)	Simon Middleton
Captain(s)	Sarah Hunter
Team kit Change kit
First international
England 22-4 Wales (5 April 1987)
Largest win
England 101–0 South Africa (14 May 2005)
Largest defeat
New Zealand 67–0 England (13 August 1997)
World Cup
Appearances	8 (First in 1991)
Best result	Champions, 1994, 2014

The England women's national rugby union team first played in 1982. England were the 2014 Rugby World Cup champions after beating Canada in the final. Their coach is Simon Middleton after their coach Gary Street, who had been head coach since 2006, contract wasn't renewed. Street now coaches Harlequins Ladies.

History

England at the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup.

Until May 1994 Women’s’ Rugby was run by the Women’s Rugby Football Union (WRFU), formed in 1983. The WRFU was responsible for rugby in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

In 1994 the Rugby Football Union for Women (RFUW) was formed in England with each of the Home Nations governing their own countries. The RFUW currently has over 410 Clubs: 170 Senior clubs, 80 student sides, 29 Under 18’s sides, 103 Under 16’s sides, and 40 Schools. These clubs are slotted into regions, these being: North West, North East, Yorkshire & Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, Eastern Counties, London & South East North, South East South, South West (North) and South West (South).

Until 2009 the badge and logo of England women's national teams was significantly different from that worn by men's teams. However, in 2009 – in anticipation of the merger between the RFU and RFUW – England teams adopted the men's rose.

Many top men’s clubs have had women’s teams from time to time. These have included Wasps, Saracens, Worcester, Rosslyn Park, London Irish, London Welsh, Waterloo, Richmond, Blackheath and Harlequins, but not all of these clubs still field women's sides. One effect of the continued division between RFU and RFUW is that there remains little incentive for clubs to create women's sections, and little encouragement for those that do field women's teams to actively integrate them fully into the host club.

Sue Day

England have taken part in every Women’s Rugby World Cup competition, winning in 1994 and 2014 and finishing as runner-up on four other occasions.

The 1995/1996 season saw the introduction of a Home Nations Championship between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, which England won in its inaugural year. England won the Championship every year except from the 1997/98 season when Scotland won it. France joined the competition in the 1998/99 season making it the Five Nations Championship with England achieving the Grand Slam in three successive seasons. In the 2001/02 season, Ireland rejoined the fold in preparation for the World Cup, and the competition expanded to be known as the Six Nations, since when England have finished lower than runner-up on only 2 occasions, in 2013 and 2015 respectively, and have won the title on 9 separate occasions, including in 7 consecutive tournaments between 2006 and 2012 and the Grand Slam on 8 more occasions, including 3 times in a row between 2006 - 2008 and 2010 - 2012, respectively.

Squad

2017 Women's Rugby World Cup squad:

• Zoe Aldcroft
• Sarah Bern
• Rochelle Clark
• Amy Cokayne
• Vickii Cornborough
• Vicky Fleetwood
• Sarah Hunter (C)
• Heather Kerr
• Justine Lucas
• Alex Matthews
• Harriet Millar-Mills
• Izzy Noel-Smith
• Marlie Packer
• Abbie Scott
• Tamara Taylor
• Rachael Burford
• Natasha Hunt
• Megan Jones
• La Toya Mason
• Katy Mclean
• Amber Reed
• Leanne Riley
• Emily Scarratt (VC)
• Emily Scott
• Lydia Thompson
• Danielle Waterman
• Kay Wilson
• Amy Wilson-Hardy

International Results

Date	No.	Home	Score	Away	Location	Competition	Serial No.
5 Apr 1987	[13]	Wales	4 - 22	England	Pontypool Park	Test	[1/1/1]
23 Apr 1988	[19]	Wales	6 - 36	England	Newport RFC	Test	[2/2/2]
15 Oct 1988	[27]	England	40 - 0	Sweden	Waterloo R.F.C.	Test	[3/5/1]
12 Feb 1989	[30]	England	38 - 4	Wales	Moseley RFC	Test	[4/4/3]
11 Feb 1990	[35]	Wales	12 - 18	England	Neath RFC	Test	[5/5/4]
21 Oct 1990	[45]	Netherlands	0 - 26	England	Utrecht	Test	[19/6/1]
24 Mar 1991	[46]	England	24 - 3	Wales	Waterloo R.F.C.	Test	[7/6/5]
6 Apr 1991	[50]	England	12 - 0	Spain	Swansea	WC	[8/2/1]
8 Apr 1991	[54]	England	25 - 9	Italy	Llanharan	WC	[9/8/1]
12 Apr 1991	[60]	England	13 - 0	France	Cardiff Arms Park	WC	[10/21/1]
14 Apr 1991	[61]	England	6 - 19	United States	Cardiff	WC	[11/10/1]
9 Feb 1992	[63]	Wales	10 - 14	England	National Stadium	Test	[9/12/6]
14 Mar 1993	[69]	England	23 - 5	Wales	Northampton RFC	Test	[13/10/7]
8 Jun 1993	[72]	England	17 - 6	United States	Ontario	CC	[14/12/2]
10 Jun 1993	[73]	Canada	8 - 12	England	Ontario	CC	[8/15/1]
12 Jun 1993	[75]	England	38 - 0	Wales	Ontario	CC	[16/13/8]
13 Feb 1994	[81]	Wales	10 - 11	England	Bridgend	Test	[15/17/9]
18 Feb 1994	[82]	England	32 - 8	France	Wolverhampton	Test	[18/25/2]
11 Apr 1994	[84]	England	66 - 0	Russia	Boroughmuir	WC	[19/1/1]
15 Apr 1994	[90]	Scotland	0 - 26	England	Boroughmuir	WC	[5/20/1]
17 Apr 1994	[95]	England	24 - 10	Canada	Gala RFC	WC	[21/12/2]
20 Apr 1994	[100]	England	18 - 6	France	Gala RFC	WC	[22/28/3]
24 Apr 1994	[108]	England	38 - 23	United States	Edinburgh	WC	[23/19/3]
18 Dec 1994	[113]	England	30 - 5	Netherlands	Wasps RFC	Test	[24/25/12]
12 Feb 1995	[114]	England	25 - 0	Wales	Sale RFC	Test	[25/22/10]
4 Feb 1996	[126]	England	56 - 3	Wales	Leicester	HN	[26/23/11]
18 Feb 1996	[128]	France	6 - 15	England	Villand Bonnot	Test	[33/27/4]
3 Mar 1996	[130]	Scotland	8 - 12	England	Edinburgh	HN	[16/28/2]
17 Mar 1996	[131]	England	12 - 8	Ireland	Sunbury	HN	[29/11/1]
5 Jan 1997	[148]	England	17 - 15	Spain	Leeds	Test	[30/10/2]
26 Jan 1997	[151]	England	23 - 3	Scotland	Blackheath	HN	[31/19/3]
9 Feb 1997	[152]	Ireland	0 - 32	England	Limerick	HN	[13/32/2]
23 Feb 1997	[153]	England	15 - 17	France	Northampton	Test	[33/39/5]
9 Mar 1997	[155]	Wales	22 - 24	England	Worcester	HN	[28/34/12]
2 Apr 1997	[157]	England	40 - 3	Netherlands	Nice	FIRA	[35/33/3]
4 Apr 1997	[162]	France	10 - 15	England	Nice	FIRA	[41/36/6]
6 Apr 1997	[165]	England	24 - 8	Scotland	Nice	FIRA	[37/23/4]
13 Aug 1997	[171]	New Zealand	67 - 0	England	Burnham	Test	[14/38/1]
31 Aug 1997	[172]	Germany	0 - 84	England	Hurth	Test	[16/39/1]
1 Feb 1998	[180]	France	5 - 13	England	Lille	Test	[43/40/7]
15 Feb 1997	[182]	England	29 - 12	Wales	Waterloo R.F.C.	HN	[41/29/13]

Results

See Women's international rugby for information about the status of international games and match numbering.

Honours

• World Cup

Winners (2): 1994, 2014

Runners-up (5): 1991, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2017

• Six Nations Championship

Winners (14): 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2017

Grand Slam (13): 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2017

Triple Crown (19): 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018

• European Championship

Winners (5): 1997, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012

Runners-up (1): 2004

See also

• England national rugby union team
• England national under-20 rugby union team
• England women's national rugby sevens team
• England national rugby sevens team
• England Saxons

England national under 18 rugby union team

External links

• England Rugby Website
• Museum of Rugby
• Origin of the red rose
• Unofficial England Rugby Union – Fan Site
• English rugby union news from Planet Rugby