Below are discussed some of the best female rugby legends who have contributed massively to the growth through an undisputed and inspiring career to look upon.
Gill Burns
The former England captain who led the team to win the 1994 World Cup, Burns started her rugby career in 1987 and made her game debut in 1988 against Sweden at Waterloo RFC. She was part of four World Cup matches in total and played for over two decades for England, captaining the side for five seasons.
In her 14-yearcareer in England from 1988 to 2002, she held a record of 73 caps. She was the long-running captain of the national team, succeeding Karen Almond. In 2005 she was awarded an MBE.
Maggie Alphonsi
A prominent figure of women’s rugby, Maggie was the ‘First Lady’ of the England team. She dominated the Six Nations tournament, winning seven titles straight, which includes six Grand Slam titles (from 2006 to 2012) and a World Cup title.
In her 11-year career with England, from the 2003 to 2014 season, she played 74 games and scored 28 tries. During her domestic career she played for the Saracens club and led them to a league and cup double.
In 2010 she was named ‘Sportswoman of the Year’ by the Sunday Times, inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame, and became the first woman to receive the Pat Marshall Award. In 2014 she won the BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year award. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016.
Vanessa Cootes
A former rugby player of New Zealand and Waikato. She was a member of the Black Ferns from the 1998 season. That season, she was part of the squad in the Rugby World Cup win and scored five of the eight tries against the USA. She also competed in the 2002 Rugby World Cup held in Spain, which the Black Roses also won.
Cootes holds the record for the most tries, 43 tries in 16 tests, and for the most points and tries for the Black Ferns. In 1996, she made a record of scoring nine tries against France.
In 2018, she received her cap from the Black Ferns.
Farah Palmer
The Black Ferns’ former player and captain is a World Cup winner of the 1998, 2002, and 2006 seasons. She won 29 of her 30 tests as a captain. In October 2014, Palmer became the first New Zealand woman to be inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame.
She made her international debut in 1996 against Australia, which her team won by 28-5. She played for 35 games in total, scoring 25 points that made her the fifth-most capped of the New Zealand women’s rugby team.
Her career accolades start with 1998, where she was named New Zealand Women’s Player of the Year; in 2005, she was awarded IRB International Women’s Personality of the Year.
Since 2016, the national rugby competition in New Zealand has been named the Farah Palmer Cup in recognition of Palmer’s contribution to the sport.
Liza Burgess
Liza Burgess played her international career for Wales and made her debut against England in 1987. In her 20-year career she got 93 caps to her name, including six with Great Britain, and was the captain of the Wales national team.
She won four Women’s World Cups, including the first one won in Cardiff back in 1991. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018.
