Jade Knight

Jade Knight
Birth nameJade Phillips
Date of birth (1989-02-16) 16 February 1989 (age 35)
Place of birthLlanelli, Wales
SchoolYsgol y Strade
UniversitySwansea University
King's College London
Occupation(s)Midwife
Rugby union career
Position(s) Scrum-half
Current team Saracens Women
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
Richmond Women ()
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2018–present Wales 6

Jade Knight (née Phillips; born 16 February 1989) is a Welsh rugby union player who plays for Saracens Women of the Premier 15s and the Wales women's national rugby union team. She earned her first international cap for Wales in a 2018 Women's Six Nations Championship and she has also played for Richmond Women in the Women's Premiership. Knight works as a midwife while continuing her rugby career.

Personal background

Knight's birth was on 16 February 1989,[1] and grew up in Llanelli.[2] Her uncle is the Welsh 52-time capped international rugby union player Mark Taylor.[3] She plays rugby in the scrum-half position,[4][5] and was educated at Ysgol Dewi Sent and Ysgol y Strade. Knight's physical education teacher at secondary school encouraged her to play alongside boys until she prohibited from doing so per school regulations. She matriculated to Swansea University and studied medical genetics.[2] She later went on to study to become a midwife at King's College London,[6] having been inspired from support after giving birth when battling Tokophobia.[5] Knight's dissertation was on researching international athletes and the perspective of being pregnant and giving birth.[7]

International career

She played rugby while studying after reaching an agreement with Imperial College London.[4] Knight combines her part-time midwife work with her rugby career for better family-work balance.[8][9] When the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected the United Kingdom, Knight was required to separate herself from her husband and son to work long shifts at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington for three months.[4][5]

She began competing in rugby when she was 12 years old and went on to played football for Wales at the Under 19 level due to a lack of provision for girls in her local area. A knee injury at age 16 ended her career in football.[2][4][3] Following an operation to her knee that kept her out of sport for four years,[2] Knight was able to make a serious return to playing and tried out touch rugby and later full-contact rugby. She has played for Wales in rugby sevens and mixed touch rugby. Knight also played with Waunarlwydd, before moving to Gorseinon where she captained the team.[4]

Knight was also capped for Wales at the Under 20 level.[1] Although she was due to earn her first international cap at the 2014 Women's Six Nations Championship,[5] during pregnancy, Knight vowed to play for the senior team sometime in the future; she feared that would affect her career adversely. Knight asked a coach to draw up a fitness programme that was altered with each semester.[7] She was shortlisted for the Wales women's national team side for the 2018 Women's Six Nations Championship.[10] Knight made her debut for the Wales national team in a Six Nations match against Scotland and she has gone to be capped a total of six times in her career.[11]

Club career

At the club level, Knight played as captain for Richmond Women in the Women's Premiership,[2] and also competed for Cardiff Quins, Scarlets Ladies and Dragons.[2][4][12] She won the 2017–18 Welsh Regional Championship before joining Saracens Women of the Premier 15s as a frequent player of the development side midway through the 2018–19 season.[1][6][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Jade Knight". Saracens. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Llanelli's Jade Knight selected for women's Welsh squad for 2018 Six Nations". Llanelli News. 31 January 2018. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  3. ^ a b Botcherby, Elizabeth (12 November 2020). "Triple threat: Saracens star Jade Knight on midwifery, motherhood and rugby". Medium. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Ian (15 January 2021). "Llanelli mum juggled being a midwife on Covid-19 frontline and professional rugby career". South Wales Evening Post. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d "Knight living apart from son to support mums-to-be during coronavirus". Enfield Independent. 1 April 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Jade Knight: Rugby Union". King's College London. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  7. ^ a b Rowan, Kate (21 December 2018). "Special report: How mothers battle to come back in rugby". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  8. ^ a b Thurston, Emma (12 August 2020). "Jade Knight discusses the feelings of uncertainty in women's rugby". Sky Sports. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  9. ^ Mahmood, Abdullah (22 March 2020). "Jade Knight: I am just trying to do my best, just like everyone else". Saracens. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  10. ^ "Quartet eye first caps". Carmarthen Journal. 24 January 2018. p. 11. ProQuest 1990398198. Retrieved 4 April 2021 – via ProQuest.
  11. ^ "Jade Knight". Welsh Rugby Union. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  12. ^ Bicknell, Martyn (26 October 2018). "Knight Added to Wales Women Squad". Dragons. Retrieved 4 April 2021.