Three of Richmond Women’s 1st team players have been announced in Team GB’s women’s rugby squad for the Olympic Games in Rio
Three players from Richmond FC's women set up have been named in the Team GB women's rugby squad for the Rio Olympics. Claire Allan, Alice Richardson and Jo Watmore will all be representing the nation at the biggest stage women's rugby has ever been played on.
“This is a hugely exciting moment for women’s rugby with sevens making its debut at the Olympic Games and we believe we have selected the best possible group of players to achieve success in Rio," said head coach Simon Middleton.
The Richmond trio were among the first female players to be awarded professional rugby contracts in England and will be hoping to add Olympic glory to their career achievements when they head to Brazil. The players will be making history as this is the first time that Women’s 7s has been included in the Olympic Games. It caps off a great year for women's rugby as earlier in the year the women's premiership final was televised for the first time with Richmond winning 28 – 17 against tough Saracens opposition at the Twickenham Stoop.
England finished the 15/16 women's sevens tour in fourth place, tied with third placed Canada on 74 points but losing out on net points scored. Australia go in to the tournament as firm favourite on 94 points with New Zealand in second place on 80 points. However if there's one thing the 15/16 sevens season showed it's that anything can happen, especially in a tournament format – who can forget England's incredible cup victory over New Zealand in the Canadian leg of the world sevens tour!
Alice Richardson will be Vice-Captain of the team, whilst England’s Emily Scarratt will Captain the side made up of 13 English and one Welsh player. Team GB will face the hosts Brazil in their first game on Saturday, August 6 at 4pm (BST). The top two teams from each group will then qualify for the next round as well as the two best third-place teams. You can watch the games and cheer on the girls live on BBC.
For a full list of the Women’s 7s fixtures and the announcement from England Rugby, please click here. You can check out the profiles of Alice, Jo and Claire below...
Alice Richardson
Age: 29
Height: 171m
Weight: 70kg
Sevens caps: 50
Likes: steak and Carlos Spencer
Alice has represented England at both sevens and full 15-a-side rugby, gaining her first cap at the impressively young age of 18 at centre. She could swim a mile at the age of five and had an LTA ranking in tennis before following her brother into rugby at the age of 16. Alice works as a personal trainer and scored 41 points this season including two tries in the cup final triumph over New Zealand at Langford.
Joanne Watmore
Age: 29
Height: 181cm
Weight: 75kg
Sevens Caps: 58
Likes: Jessica Ennis and poached eggs with avocado
Jo is England's record try scorer in the history of world sevens crossing the whitewash 48 times in her career including 12 tries in the 15/16 season. She has represented England in the 15-a-side format as well although her fondest memory is from the abbreviated form of the game having scored two tries when sharing in the Hong Kong triumph of 2012. Like her Vice-Captain, Jo works as personal trainer and on her DBA Sports Profile it says she was once bitten by a tiger in Africa!
Claire Allan
Age: 31
Height: 170cm
Weight: 63kg
Sevens caps: 52
Likes: shark documentaries and bacon
After helping England to win the 2014 World Cup in France Claire was rewarded with a full-time sevens contract and is now taking a career break from her previous working life as a police officer with the Met in the Acton Proactive Robbery Squad. An England stalwart she has played in 13 tournaments and scored 12 tries. Her favourite film is Léon and her top breakfast is poached eggs, bacon, spinach and coffee.
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