Emily Rudge is a British rugby league player who plays for St Helens Women in the

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

. She plays at . Born in Warrington Rudge attended Cardinal Newman High School and first played

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

for a local Warrington club before joining Thatto Heath Crusaders. While at Warrington she was first selected for the

England women's national rugby league team The England women's national Rugby League team represents England in Women's Rugby League. They are administered by the Rugby Football League. History Early years Women's Rugby League was originally established in 1985 through the Women's A ...

in 2008, aged 16. In 2011, Rudge was in the Warrington team that won the Championship Final of the

Women's Rugby League Conference The Women's Rugby League Conference was a competition for women's rugby league teams in Britain that ran from 2008 to 2011. The men's equivalent is the Rugby League Conference. History : The ''Southern Conference League'' began as a 10-team p ...

in August, before joining for

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Post Office Road and currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Featherstone ...

for the interim season before the launch of the first summer-based season. In 2014, Rudge scored tries for Thatto Heath in their 32–24

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

final and Premier Division 36–14 play-off final wins over the Bradford Thunderbirds. In June 2015, while at back at Featherstone Rovers, Rudge was part of the England team that played a two-match series against France. Rudge was part of the Featherstone team that reached the 2015

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

final, losing 18–12 to Thatto Heath. The following season she returned to Thatto Heath and scored twice in their 62–6 Challenge Cup final win over the

Leigh Miners Rangers Leigh Miners Rangers are a community amateur rugby league football club from Leigh in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club currently competes in the National Conference League, the National Conference Premier Division ...

, and once in their Grand Final win over the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

. At the end of the 2018 season Rudge was named captain of the England team for the test match against and in 2019 was named as England captain for the World 9s tournament in Australia in October 2019 and also the two-match test series against in November 2019. In the first test match against Papua New Guinea on 9 November 2019 Rudge became the first England player to score four tries in a test match as England won 24–10. Rudge was one of the three nominees for the 2019 Telegraph Woman of Steel award but lost out to Leeds' Courtney Hill. In March 2023, Rudge stepped down from her role as England captain and was succeeded by

Jodie Cunningham Jodie Cunningham (born 5 December 1991) is an English rugby league footballer who plays as a or at international level for England and domestically for St Helens in the Women's Super League. Cunningham started paying rugby while a pupil at ...

. Away from rugby Rudge is a PE teacher at a high school in St Helens. In 2018, Rudge married Gemma Walsh who also played in the Women's Super League for St Helens' rivals Wigan Warriors Women.

Test match appearances

With her appearance in the October 2021 test match against France, Rudge equalled the record for most test match caps, 24, for

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rudge, Emily Living people England women's national rugby league team players English female rugby league players Schoolteachers from Merseyside English LGBTQ sportspeople Rugby league players from Warrington Rugby league second-rows St Helens Women RLFC players Featherstone Rovers Women players England women's national rugby league team captains 1991 births 21st-century English sportswomen