Allez Zoe Aldcroft!
For Zoe Aldcroft this weekend's Grand Slam decider against France at Twickenham Stadium adds to highlights playing against Les Bleues in a remarkable rugby career.
On her England debut against France in July 2016 at Salt Lake City, she came off the bench in the final four minutes and scored the winning try.
“It was my first cap and really exciting,” she recalls. “The sun was shining, and I had just run onto the pitch and got the chance to score, which was amazing on my debut.”
In April 2021, at the Twickenham Stoop amidst the covid pandemic, she was Player of the Match after England's hard-fought 10-6 Six Nations title victory over France.
“It was weird, there was no crowd which was bizarre. We had to create our own energy and atmosphere from just being on the pitch. It was a different format because of covid, and we could only do a certain amount of preparation due to not spending too much time together in the pandemic.”
In between those two occasions, having been awarded a full-time contract by the RFU in January 2019, she missed the 2019 Women's Six Nations due to an ankle injury, returning to play in the 2019 Super Series in San Diego.
Out of the game for four months she says she “tried to set goals and to stay around the team. First you process the fact that you are injured, and then get on with it, make sure you know all the team stuff so that when you recover you can hit the ground running. There are quite a lot of things you can do like upper body strength and conditioning.”
Captaining England on her birthday
In December 2021 she became World Rugby Women’s 15s Player of the Year after captaining her country for the first time on her 25th birthday and scoring a try in the 89-0 victory over the USA.
“That was a week I will never forget,” she says. “It was quite overwhelming and by the end of it I was emotionally exhausted, so it’s nice to now reflect on those memories which are among my best.”
Aldcroft started playing rugby at Scarborough, went on to play for Malton & Norton girls, West Park Leeds and represented Yorkshire at U15 and U18 level alongside Tatyana Heard.
“We played together from the time I was 12 and she was 14 for Malton & Norton, West Park Leeds and we are now at Gloucester Hartbury together.”
Aldcroft studied Sport and Exercise Nutrition at Hartpury College and during that time was a member of the England U18 Sevens team that became the inaugural European champions in Sweden.
“It was really cool. I went to Hartpury at 16 and was one of a group of around 24 girls all living away from home. A number of us were in that squad. It was fantastic and I don’t think we conceded a point in the whole tournament.”
Aldcroft studied Sport and Exercise Nutrition at Hartpury College and completed a BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Sciences degree at Northumbria University. To her degree she has added a health practitioner course, with the aim of pursuing chiropody beyond her rugby career.
Goodbye Jonny
That seems wholly appropriate as putting her best foot forward is a given, although now she has abandoned her good luck knitted Jonny Wilkinson doll, which was always her talisman.
“It has stayed at home for this Six Nations. After the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, it was clear to me that you can’t create certainty through superstitions. It just doesn’t work. It’s about how you prepare yourself to make sure you are ready to do your absolute best. It’s about how I can make myself the best player I can be to win the next World Cup.”
She is rooming in camp with Sarah Bern. “She has been my roomie since we got our first caps together. She’s a great roomie but was always very tidy, while I wasn’t. But she’s chilled out a bit over the last couple of seasons which means mine isn’t noticeably the messy half of the room. We have pretty similar tastes in music but on game day she always has the same songs on repeat like the The Fratellis’ Chelsea Dagger, whereas I like feel-good stuff.”
This game day will be like no other. “It is so exciting to be running out onto Twickenham’s hallowed turf for our first ever standalone Test,” says Aldcroft. “It’s going to be such a contrast to playing against France in the pandemic, and absolutely fantastic to play in front of such an amazing crowd.”
Now that’s the kind of feel-good music that the England lock will definitely enjoy!
