Rachael Burford in no mood to slow down as women's rugby gathers momentum

When asked how it feels to have been part of three record-breaking games within a month, England and Harlequins centre Rachael Burford responds with genuine surprise: “Was it three?”

A crowd of 13,278 watched England clinch the Six Nations Grand Slam at The Stoop on March 17, beating the record for a non-World Cup women’s home game they set just the previous week when over 10,000 turned out at Sandy Park. On March 30, Burford played for Harlequins at The Stoop in front of 4,837, the largest ever for a women’s club game. 

Such is the wave of momentum behind the women’s game in this country that Burford, who was involved in all three moments, had lost count. 

“I guess you don’t [realise] until somebody says it to you,” she says. “It’s phenomenal to see it’s finally getting the recognition because there has always been an appetite, it’s just about showcasing it in the right way.”

England’s Six Nations performance, where they routed the competition on their way to a Grand Slam, had been a gleaming endorsement of the full-time contracts 28 players were awarded in January. But Burford believes their success is as much down to the formation of the Tyrrell’s Premier 15s league two years ago. 

“A hell of a lot of England’s success is down to the standard of the Tyrrell’s. The amount of work that’s gone on behind in the clubs has made a big, big difference because it’s allowed players to really understand what it takes to become an elite player. It naturally then transferred into the programme with England. 

“With the England contracts, of course people don’t have the stress of another job or not getting much life balance and rest. But clubs have really good foundations now and are really trying to make it as professional as a non-paid professional job is.”

And even that could be changing. Last week the Telegraph reported that both Saracens and Bristol Bears had contracted female players for the first time and, though they are still unpaid, it is the first step towards that marker - in the case of Saracens, paid contracts could be a reality as early as next season. Burford’s club, Quins, have previously led the way in equal access to facilities and promotion of the women’s side alongside the men’s, as well as playing at The Stoop.

On Sunday they host Loughborough Lightning in the Premier 15s semi-final, and Burford says seeing how far the game has come pushes her to continue grassroots work at her Burford Academy. 

She set up the girls-only days and leadership classes after seeing the drop-off in participation after girls could no longer participate with boys in her work with the RFU. “If you make a girl feel confident she will give you tenfold back. I remember when I was 13 I got my first call-up to go to this England training camp and my dad was driving me up there. We were pulling in and I was like: ‘Are you sure I got a letter?’ 

“Even though I got a letter, had to respond and we’d driven three or four hours I was doubting myself. My dad was like you’re definitely meant to be here. I want to try and help girls not feel like that.”

She says that having female role models has been invaluable, having grown up playing on the same team as her older sister and mother. “My only ever red card was because of my mum, I was only 16. Somebody had hold of her, and I got all protective and ran across the field to pushed this woman off her,” she says, laughing. 

Now 32, Burford still has no intention of slowing down. This summer’s Super Series in San Diego will pit England against the other top five-ranked sides in the world, New Zealand, Canada, France and the USA. Despite struggling to make the starting XV during this year’s Six Nations, Burford already has an eye on the 2021 World Cup, which would be her fifth.

“My first cap was at the 2006 World Cup and there was nobody there - our friends and family, that was it. In 2010 we sold out The Stoop, in 2014 there were 18,500 at the final, and then Ireland [in 2017], 2.2 million people were watching. You want to be a part of that.”

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