Holly Nielle Aitchison (born 13 September 1997) is an English

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player for

Bristol Bears Women Bristol Bears Women, formerly Clifton Ladies RFC, then Bristol Ladies, is a women's rugby union team based in Bristol, England. They are a standalone, independent rugby club, running in partnership with the Bristol Bears (formerly Bristol Rugby) s ...

. She has played international representative rugby at the World Cup, Olympic Games, and Six Nations Championships.

Early life

Born in

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

, she attended St Peter’s Primary School and

Range High School Range High School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Formby, Merseyside, England. It was built during the early 1970s after a contracted period of delays and was necessary due to the increasing overcrowding at near ...

in Formby where she was coached by

Gill Burns Gillian Ann Burns (born 12 July 1964) is a former rugby union player who represented England between 1988 and 2002, including when they won the 1994 Women's Rugby World Cup. She also captained her country between 1994 and 1999. She was selecte ...

. Aitchison is the daughter of former England Saxon and rugby coach Ian Aitchison.

Career

She played for

Waterloo Ladies Waterloo Ladies Rugby Football Club, known for sponsorship reasons as Firwood Waterloo Ladies Rugby Football Club, is a women's rugby union club based in Blundellsands, Merseyside, England. They are the women's team of Waterloo FC. They were estab ...

as a junior and

Gloucester-Hartpury Women Gloucester-Hartpury Women's Rugby Football Club is a women's rugby union club based in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England. They are the unified women's team of Gloucester Rugby and Hartpury University R.F.C. They were founded in 2014 and as of ...

and

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 ...

. She was a two-time U18

Rugby Europe Women's Sevens The Rugby Europe Women's Sevens, previously the FIRA–AER Women's Sevens until 2013, is a series of regional championships for women's international rugby sevens in Europe. Prior to 2012, the annual tournament is held over two days, typically ...

champion with England and a member of the squad that lifted the Challenge Trophy at the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens. In September 2020 she joined

Saracens Women Saracens Women ( /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 in the country. Saracens are the m ...

. She was said to have played a key role as Saracens won the Premier 15s title in 2021-22, and played all 80 minutes of the 43-21 victory over Exeter Chiefs in the final. On 1 July 2023, Aitchinson was announced as signing for

International career

In 2021 she played for the Great Britain Rugby Sevens squad in the delayed 2020 Summer Games in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, where they finished fourth. In October 2021, she scored a try on her debut for the England 15s team. She 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. She was named in the starting 15 for the World Cup final against New Zealand. For the 2023 Six Nations Championship, Aitchinson reverted to starting at fly-half for England. The England side completed a grand-slam in the tournament. In May 2023, she was shortlisted for the ‘best player’ award at the 2023 Six Nations.

Personal life

In 2022 Aitchinson was revealed to be in a relationship with rugby union player

Hannah Botterman Hannah Botterman (born 8 June 1999) is an English rugby union prop who represents Saracens Women in club rugby and the England national team. Botterman made her debut in 2017 against Canada. International career In 2017, Botterman was called ...

References

External links

* * * * 1997 births Living people English female rugby union players Olympic rugby sevens players for Great Britain Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Southport Rugby union players from Merseyside England international women's rugby sevens players English rugby sevens players Female rugby sevens players Saracens Women rugby players England women's international rugby union players Bristol Bears Women players Great Britain women's international rugby sevens players Rugby union centres Rugby union fly-halves Alumni of Hartpury College {{England-rugbyunion-bio-stub