Elinor Snowsill (born 27 June 1989) is a Welsh

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player who plays as a

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

for

Bristol Bears Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 1 ...

. She made her debut for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

against Sweden in 2009, earning 76 caps before her international retirement in August 2023.

Club career

Snowsill began her rugby career with Cardiff Harlequins, playing two matches for the club on the wing. She later played for

Newport Gwent Dragons Dragons RFC ( cy, Dreigiau) are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They are owned by the Welsh Rugby Union and play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport and at other grounds around the region. They play in t ...

before moving to Bristol Bears.

International career

Snowsill captained the

Wales women's national under-20 rugby union team Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in 2 ...

, before making her debut as a fly-half for the senior team in 2009 against Sweden. She has since earned 58 caps. In April 2019, she played for British invitational rugby union club The Barbarians against the USA – a match she said at the time was "the best rugby experience I've ever had." Snowsill became known on social media, alongside fellow Bristol Bears player

Amber Reed Amber Reed (born 3 April 1991) is an English rugby union player. She won the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup as a member of 's squad and was selected for the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup was the eighth edition o ...

, for a viral video showing a training ground routine involving a complicated trick shot. She was selected in

squad for the

2021 Rugby World Cup The 2021 Rugby World Cup was the ninth staging of the 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 scheduled to be held in 2021, ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

Personal life

Born in Ascot, England to a Welsh mother and English father, Snowsill and her family relocated to Cardiff when she was seven. As a youngster she excelled at football and represented Wales at age-grade level, only picking up a rugby ball aged 15 when a teacher at her school organised a girls' touch team. At the relatively late age of 19, Snowsill made the decision to focus exclusively on rugby. She graduated from

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, whe ...

in 2010 with a 2:1 degree in psychology, and in 2014 graduated from Cardiff University with a distinction in PCGE psychology. Also in 2014, Snowsill launched her own healthy food company, Onest Food, alongside her rugby career. Snowsill has always been involved in social and charitable work, previously working as a learning support officer, and since 2017 acting as mentor and coach at The School of Hard Knocks, an organisation that uses sport in secondary schools to tackle unemployment, crime and poor health. She is also an active

LGBTQ+ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

advocate, and has been outspoken on issues of diversity in rugby.

References

External links

Profile
at WRU.wales {{DEFAULTSORT:Snowsill, Elinor 1989 births Rugby union players from Ascot, Berkshire Alumni of Loughborough University Living people Female rugby union players Welsh female rugby union players Dragons RFC players Wales women's international rugby union players Welsh rugby union players Wales international women's rugby sevens players