Helena Charlotte Rowland (born 19 September 1999) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

rugby union player. She plays for England women's national rugby union team internationally and Loughborough Lightning at club level.

International career

At the start of 2018 she represented England U20s in three games. Rowland made her international debut for the senior England 15s team in November 2020 and she played versus Italy as England took the grand slam in the

2020 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2020 Women's Six Nations Championship was the 19th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition between six European rugby union national teams. Matches were originally scheduled for February and ...

. She focused on women's rugby sevens for several years, appearing regularly in the World Rugby Sevens Series and part of the team making a bid for the Great Britain squad at the

2020 Olympic Games The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

. When the Olympic Games were postponed due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, funding was cut for the sevens squad and Rowland returned to 15s. In 2021, Rowland was contracted for the

2021 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2021 Women's Six Nations Championship was the 20th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition between England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The 2021 tournament was given a change o ...

and started in the opening game against Scotland when teammate

Zoe Harrison Zoe Harrison (born 14 April 1998) is an English rugby player who plays for the England women's national rugby union team and Saracens Women at club level. She made her international debut for England in 2017 and was offered a full-time contract f ...

was suspended due to a breach in Coronavirus protocols. Rowland was named in the England squad for the delayed

2021 Rugby World Cup The 2021 Rugby World Cup was the ninth staging of the women's Rugby World Cup, as organised by World Rugby. It was held from 8 October to 12 November 2022 in Auckland and Whangārei, New Zealand. It was originally scheduled to be held in 2021, ...

held in New Zealand in October and November 2022.

Club career

Rowland first played for Welwyn RFC, where she led the Under 15s team to the national sevens title. In 2016 she suffered a fractured tibia that left her off the pitch for six months but she returned to win gold at the 2016 School Games for the South East team. In 2017 she moved to

Saracens Women Saracens Women (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsærəsənz/) are a women's rugby union club based in Hendon, London, England. They were founded in 1989 and currently play in the Premier 15s, the top level competition of Women's rugby union, women's rugby ...

and was part of the

Premier 15s The Premier 15s, currently known for sponsorship purposes as the Allianz Premier 15s, is the top tier of the women's English rugby union domestic league system run by the Rugby Football Union (RFU). The league was created mainly from teams in t ...

winning team in 2018. After playing sevens rugby at international level, Rowland returned to the Premier 15s in 2020 with Loughborough Lightning.

Early life and education

She began her rugby career at Aylesbury RFC, aged six, going on to play for Tring and Bicester RFC. Rowland comes from a sporting family. Her brother Dan played rugby for Bath University first 15, Wasps U18 and Esher first 15. Her mother, Lisa, represented her country in athletics.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rowland, Helena Living people 1999 births England women's international rugby union players English female rugby union players Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players for Great Britain England international women's rugby sevens players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union players from Aylesbury Loughborough Lightning rugby union players