Alexandra George Matthews (born 3 August 1993) is an English

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. She made her debut for England in 2011 and was a member of the winning

2014 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup was the seventh edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup, and the sixth held in Europe. The World Cup Final took place on 17 August. All of the pool games for the World Cup took place at the Centre National du ...

squad.

International career

Matthews first played for England in 2011. In 2014 she was one of the youngest members of the England

squad, having played in the final versus Canada. Matthews had returned from a hip operation just two weeks pre-selection for the tournament to win a place on the team. She played for the England 7s team, going semi-professional in 2013 and full-time in 2014 while completing her degree. In 2014 she was part of the training squad for the

2016 Olympic Games The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

but was forced to leave three months before the Games due to illness and injury. In 2017 she returned to England 15s as part of the

2017 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup was the eighth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in Ireland in August 2017. New Zealand became the 2017 champions by beating England 41–32 in the final on 26 August. Matches were held in Du ...

squad, playing in every game. England finished second in the tournament. Matthews was named Player of the Match for the side's game against the USA. She switched back to 7s again in 2018 to take Bronze at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

and is currently on a hybrid contract between England's senior team and the Great Britain women's rugby 7s team that was meant to play at the

2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

, postponed due to COVID-19. Matthews was named RPA Women's Sevens Player of the Year in 2018. She played for England in the

2020 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2020 Women's Six Nations Championship was the 19th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition contested by six European rugby union national teams. Matches were originally scheduled for February ...

, which the side won. She was named in the England squad for the delayed

2021 Rugby World Cup The 2021 Rugby World Cup was the ninth staging of the Rugby World Cup (women), women's Rugby World Cup, as organised by World Rugby. It was held from 8 October to 12 November 2022 in Auckland and Whangārei, New Zealand. It was originally sche ...

held in New Zealand in October and November 2022. She was called into the

Red Roses Red Roses (, 'red moor') is a village in Carmarthenshire, Wales. Situated in south-west Carmarthenshire, the village forms part of the Eglwyscummin community, and with Ciffig and Marros, forms part of the Laugharne Township electoral ward. T ...

side for the

2025 Six Nations Championship The 2025 Men's Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Men's Six Nations for sponsorship reasons and branded as M6N) was a rugby union competition that took place from late January to mid-March 2025, featuring the men's national teams of E ...

on 17 March.

Club career

Matthews joined Worcester Warriors in 2020 after the funding for the Women's 7s GB team was cut earlier that year. She previously played for Richmond alongside her older sister,

Fran Matthews Francis Oliver Matthews (November 2, 1916 – August 24, 1999) was an American baseball first baseman in the Negro leagues. Matthews, whose father was from Barbados, was born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he attended the prestigi ...

. In 2014, Matthews won the Premiership and Cup with Richmond.

Early life and education

She started playing rugby aged three at Camberley RFC, where she played minis rugby until she had to stop playing with the boys' U12 team, although she continued to train with the boys' team for a further two years. Her sister Fran Matthews also plays both sevens and fifteens rugby for England. Matthews attended Kings International College secondary school and Hartpury College before completing a degree in Sports Psychology at

Roehampton University The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. The University traces its r ...

alongside her rugby commitments. She worked as a part-time carer between 2012 and 201

During the 2020 pandemic lockdown she spent time travelling the UK in her campervan.

References

External links

Alex Matthews
at Rugby Football Union, England Rugby
archive

Alex Matthews
at Gloucester-Hartpury * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Alex 1993 births Living people Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in rugby sevens England women's international rugby union players English female rugby union players Olympic rugby sevens players for Great Britain Rugby sevens players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Rugby union players from Surrey England international women's rugby sevens players Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Sportspeople from Camberley Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for England Alumni of the University of Roehampton Alumni of Hartpury College Worcester Warriors Women players Gloucester-Hartpury Women players 21st-century English sportswomen