Flight Lieutenant Amy Victoria Fiona Cokayne (born 11 July 1996) is an English rugby union player. She made her international debut for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 2015 against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. She was named in the

2017 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup was the eighth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in Ireland in August 2017. New Zealand became the 2017 champions by beating England 41–32 in the final on 26 August. Matches were held in Dub ...

squad for

International career

Though her family moved to New Zealand when she was nine, Cokayne made the choice to train for England after being called up to the New Zealand Women's Rugby Team (known as the Black Ferns) training camp; she moved back to England in 2013. The following year she was selected for the England Under 20s team, and made her first appearance for the seniors England Women's Rugby Team in 2015. She scored her first senior try for the side against Canada in the 2015 Super Series. Cokayne went on to play in every game in the

and was named the second highest try-scorer in the 2017 Women's Six Nations Championship. In 2019 she was awarded a full time contract with the England team. She missed some games that year, including the 2019 Super Series, as she completed her RAF training. She was named in the England squad for the delayed 2021 Rugby World Cup held in New Zealand in October and November 2022.

Club career

After returning to England, Cokayne joined

Lichfield Ladies Lichfield Ladies Rugby Union Football Club is a women's rugby union club based in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. They play their home matches at Cooke Fields and play in the Women's Premiership. They are also the women's team of Lichfield Rugby ...

in 2014. In 2017 she moved to

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

, before joining

Harlequins Women Harlequins Women, formerly known as Harlequins Ladies, are a women's rugby union club based in Guildford, Surrey, England and in Twickenham, Middlesex, England. They were founded in 1995 as the women's team of Harlequin F.C. and rebranded in 2 ...

in 2019.

Early life and education

Born in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

, Cokayne first played rugby at age six, at Cleve Rugby Club in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. She also played football as goal keeper for Aston Villa Under 10s. Cokayne's father was a big Aston Villa fan: her initials spell out AVFC. She was nine when her family migrated to New Zealand in 2006 because her father joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force. She attended

Feilding High School "Have Courage, Desire Greatly" , coordinates = , type = State Co-Ed Secondary School (Year 9–13) with boarding facilities , established = 1921 as Feilding Technical High School , MOE = 197 , principal = Nathan Stewart , ...

and captained the girls rugby team in 2012, winning 53 consecutive matches. Cokayne studied for a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in

Sports Science Sports science is a discipline that studies how the healthy human body works during exercise, and how sport and physical activity promote health and performance from cellular to whole body perspectives. The study of sports science traditionally inc ...

Loughborough college Loughborough College is a general further education college located in Leicestershire, England which offers a range of courses including further education, higher education, apprenticeships and professional qualifications. List of princip ...

. In December 2018, Cokayne graduated as a pilot officer in the RAF. She went on to train for the RAF Police.

References

External links

RFU Player Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cokayne, Amy 1996 births Living people England women's international rugby union players English female rugby union players Rugby union players from Ipswich 21st-century Royal Air Force personnel Military personnel from Ipswich Rugby union hookers Wasps Women rugby players Harlequins Women rugby players Leicester Tigers Women players Alumni of Loughborough College People educated at Feilding High School English emigrants to New Zealand