From childhood on a farm to playing for England, Emily Scarratt on her journey to rugby
Growing up on a beef and arable farm in Leicestershire, England’s Scarratt was always well aware that results rested on hard work.
She talks of farming being “a tough way of life” and her father and brother putting in 18-hour days bringing in the harvest. Unlike for professional rugby players, she says, there are no “recovery days” in farming.
Her upbringing gave her both a sunny disposition and a resilience much needed in tougher times as when she had neck surgery which kept her out of the game for 13 months.
“I think it gave me a slightly more relaxed nature to go with things, figure out the next step, attack it and repeat the process,” she says.
England’s top points scorer turned up at Leicester Forest RFC aged five when her eight-year-old brother Joe was playing there. She was encouraged to join in and immediately loved it.
US basketball scholarship offer
A talented sporting all-rounder, Scaz - as her teammates call her - played hockey, rounders and turned down a US basketball scholarship when she was 16, in favour of rugby.
She went from Leicester Forest to Lichfield and the centre is now both a star player for Loughborough Lightning, as well as part of their coaching setup.
She sees this year’s home world tournament as a great opportunity for the women’s game.
“It’s going to be a mega world cup in terms of exposure, attracting fans and with all the noise around it,” she says
If she’s involved, it will be her fifth Rugby World Cup, having secured England’s 2014 Women’s World Cup triumph with six minutes left in the game and been runner up in England in 2010 and then in 2017 and 2021.
“As a player you want to be fit, then you want to be selected and then as a team you want to be world champions at home.”
Always enjoy playing
The biggest priority is, however, “to enjoy playing. You must always remember to enjoy it,” she says.
And that enjoyment was never more apparent than when she returned from her long lay-off and neck surgery in 2024, played in three Tests and helped the Red Roses claim a Grand Slam.
The accolades are many. She first played in a world cup as a 20-year-old university student in 2010, bagged most points in the 2014 Rugby World Cup, captained Team GB at the 2016 Rio Olympics, won a bronze medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games became a professional player in 2019, the same year she became World Rugby Women’s Player of the Year, she became highest England points scorer in 2020, and in September 2024 reached 100 caps.
Keeping fit and inspiring youngsters
During the Covid lockdown she set up a home-made gym in what had been a cowshed, using tractor tyres, straw bales and wooden pallets. Fitness has always been a huge attribute and, having had no female rugby role model as a young girl, she is delighted when young boys and girls now tell her they took up rugby after watching her play, or that she was their chosen hero in a classroom project.
“Women’s rugby has become so much more visible now, but we can’t take it for granted,” she says. “That visibility comes with pressure to perform well and keep inspiring the next generation.”
Certainly, if youngsters are looking for a role model in women’s rugby these days, Scaz is likely to be up there with the best as she claims her 117th cap today.
