Massive congratulations to Sophie in Year 13, whose Rugby career has hit a new high after she trained with the England U18 Training Group for the first time this week.

Training with the England talent development group could lead to Sophie playing in a North v South match in December. The final selections for the England U18 Six Nations squad will then be made in early 2023.

Sophie said:

It was amazing to play alongside such fantastic players and coaches – all of them were so welcoming. Being selected for England is a massive opportunity and is a culmination of a lot of hard work.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Miss Harding who encouraged me to start rugby in year 8. I never imagined it could lead to this!

As well as recently playing at Wasps, Sophie is the captain of the Furies U18 team and has been a regular face at St Helen’s School fixtures during her senior school career. In 2020, she was part of the U15 team to be crowned London Youth Games Champions, and to win the SOCS Middlesex Girls U15 Cup.

Then in 2022 Sophie did us proud as part of our U18 Rugby team who, among other achievements, won the London Youth Games 7s Tournament before making it to the semi-finals of the plate competition at Rosslyn Park National Schools Sevens — the world’s largest school rugby tournament.