Sarah McKenna (born 23 March 1989) 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 ...

and rugby sevens player. She is a member of the England Women's Rugby Team and plays for Saracens Women's at club level.

International career

McKenna made her debut for the England national team in August 2011 in a 15–11 victory over the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. She also played for the country's rugby sevens team the same year and focused on sevens for some years after. She played in the

2015 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2015 Women's Six Nations Championship, also known as the 2015 RBS Women's Six Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 14th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby unio ...

in which England came fourth. In 2015, she was also part of the team to finish third in the first round of the Rugby Europe 7s Grand Prix, but was forced out for nine months due to an ankle injury. The same injury caused her to miss the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

. She returned to international rugby in 2018, playing in three World Rugby Women's Sevens series events. She was also selected for the England squad playing in the

Rugby World Cup Sevens Rugby World Cup Sevens (RWCS) is the quadrennial world championship of rugby sevens, a variant of rugby union. Organised by World Rugby, it currently consists of men's and women's tournaments, and is the highest level of competition in the sport ...

in San Francisco that year, in which the team placed ninth. She returned to the

Women's Six Nations The Women's Six Nations Championship, known as the TikTok Women's Six Nations for sponsorship purposes, is an international rugby union competition contested between six European women's national teams. It started in the 1995–96 season as the ...

in 2019, starting every game at full back for England. The country won the tournament with a

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 ...

. That same year, McKenna played for England in the Super Series in the USA. She was one of the first 28 players to be offered a full time contract by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) as they were first offered in 2019. She continues to play for England, most recently as part of the 2020 Women's Six Nations 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.

Club career

She first joined

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 ...

in 2013. She was on the squad that won the Premiers title in the 2014/2015 season. In 2018 she rejoined Saracens and was instrumental in the side again taking the Tyrells

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 ...

title in 2019. She is Head Coach for

Old Albanian RFC Old Albanian Rugby Football Club (OAs) is a rugby union club based in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. The club currently play in National League 2 East. History The club was formed in 1924 by a group of Old Boys of St Albans School. The ...

Saints women's rugby team based in St Albans, Hertfordshire.

Early life and education

McKenna attended Grove Junior School and

Roundwood Park School Roundwood Park School is a mixed, 11-18 secondary school with Academy (English school), academy status situated in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, UK. Opened in 1956, it currently has around 1300 pupils, most of whom live in the local a ...

. She began playing rugby at the age of 6 in her hometown of

Harpenden Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,240 in the 2011 census, whilst the population of the civil parish was 29,448. Har ...

, playing at Harpenden RFC where her father coached minis rugby. As a teenager, McKenna played netball at county level.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenna, Sarah 1989 births Living people England women's international rugby union players English female rugby union players English rugby union coaches Female rugby sevens players People educated at Roundwood Park School Rugby union players from Harpenden England international women's rugby sevens players Saracens Women rugby players