Sarah Beckett (born 14 February 1999) is a professional

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 represents

England women's national rugby union team The England women's national rugby union team, also known as the Red Roses, represents England in women's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Women's Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. E ...

internationally and plays for Gloucester-Hartpury at club level.

International career

Beckett made her England debut in November 2018, starting in an 57–5 victory of USA Women. She featured in every game as England won the

2019 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2019 Women's Six Nations Championship was the 18th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition between six European rugby union national teams. Matches were held in February and March 2019, on the ...

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

. She played in all Autumn Internationals and 2020 Women’s Six Nations matches.

Club career

Beckett made her debut in the Premier 15s 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 ...

aged 18. The club was renamed Firwood Waterloo Ladies Rugby Football Club for sponsorship reasons. She won the Gill Burns' Ladies Championship with Firwood in the 2016/17 season. In the same season, she also won the Gill Burns' Ladies County Championship as captain of the Lancashire and North of England U18 team. As the only professional rugby player at Firwood, she moved to

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 in a bid to help her retain professional standards.

Early life and education

Sarah has a twin sister called Kate who didn't play rugby until she attended Leicester University. Their older brother

Charlie Beckett Charlie Beckett (born 3 November 1995) is an English rugby union player for Ampthill in the RFU Championship. Originally part of Leicester Tigers academy, he made the switch to Gloucester academy where he captained Gloucester United in the ' ...

is professional a rugby union player. Aged 8 Sarah tried to tackle her older brother but broke her arm. Her father, uncle and grandfather all played rugby for Waterloo. Sarah attended

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 ...

Formby, Merseyside Formby is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 22,419 at the 2011 Census. Historically in Lancashire, three manors are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 under "For ...

, where former England and Waterloo captain

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 selected ...

was her head of house. She joined Waterloo RFC aged seven. Beckett completed the U20s trials twice for England and didn't make the squad but eventually made it after Matt Ferguson, the then England forwards coach, saw her playing for Firwood at age 18. After a gap year spent teaching PE at primary schools, she went on to study international disaster management at university but left after ten weeks as her rugby training for England interfered with her studies. She also plays guitar.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beckett, Sarah 1999 births Living people England women's international rugby union players English female rugby union players Rugby union players from Liverpool 21st-century English women Gloucester-Hartpury Women players Rugby union number eights Harlequins Women rugby players English twins