Detysha Martin Harper (born 23 October 1998,

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

rugby union player. She represents

England women's national rugby union team The England women's national rugby union team, commonly known as the Red Roses, represents England in women's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Women's Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales ...

internationally and plays for

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as ...

at club level.

International career

Harper got her first call-up to the England squad in November 2019, after playing for the Under 20s. She made her international debut playing for England in February 2020. She was called up as a replacement against Ireland at 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 ...

. England won the championship in late 2020 after delays due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. She was again called up to the England team during the

2021 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2021 Women's Six Nations Championship was the 20th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition featuring England women's national rugby union team, England, France women's national rugby union te ...

s. She played in the final versus France, helping England to take the win and make her a two-time Six Nations champion. Not originally named in the squad for the COVID-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 ...

, Harper was called up after the first two pool games to replace the injured Laura Keates.

Club career

She first played rugby at 15, joining her local club Eccles RFC. She went on to play in the Premier 15s for Loughborough Lightning. Following 4 years at Loughborough Harper signed for

Sale Sharks Women Sale Sharks Women are a women's rugby union club based in Sale, Greater Manchester, England. They were founded in 2020 as the women's team of Premiership Rugby side Sale Sharks. They currently compete in Premiership Women's Rugby, the highest di ...

on a two-year contract ahead of the 2023-24 Premiership Women's Rugby season.

Early and personal life

Harper was born in Salford, Manchester. There was no rugby at her school, so she played rounders, netball and football. So it wasn't until she was 15 that she first played, after asking why only her two brothers played rugby and not her: she joined Eccles RFC which had Under 15s and Under 18s girls' teams. She is studying for a degree in Psychology at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

. Harper is known in the England women's rugby team for plaiting other players' hair before matches.

References

External links

England Player Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Detysha 1998 births Living people English female rugby union players Rugby union players from Salford Rugby union props Loughborough Lightning rugby union players Sale Sharks Women players England women's international rugby union players Black British sportswomen 21st-century English sportswomen