Jade Knight ( Phillips; born 16 February 1989) is a Welsh rugby union player who plays for

Saracens Women Saracens Women () are an English women's rugby union club based in Hendon, London. They were established in 1989 and currently play in Premiership Women's Rugby (PWR), the top level of competition of women's rugby in the country. Saracens a ...

of the

Premier 15s Premiership Women's Rugby – officially known as Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby or The Allianz PWR – is an annual semi-professional women's rugby union club competition at the highest level of the English rugby union system, and is run ...

and the

Wales women's national rugby union team The Wales women's national rugby union team first played in 1987. Wales plays in the Women's Rugby World Cup and the Women's Six Nations Championship. Their current head coach, as of January 2025, is Sean Lynn. History As far back as the ni ...

. She earned her first international

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for Wales in a 2018 Women's Six Nations Championship and she has also played for

Richmond Women Richmond Women, formally Finchley RFC, is a women's rugby union team based in Richmond, London, England. They were founded in 1986 and played in the Women's Premiership. They are also the women's team of Richmond F.C. History Richmond Women we ...

in the

Women's Premiership The Women's Premiership, also called the RFUW Premiership was the top level of women's rugby union in England until 2017. It was formed in 1990 and was run by the Rugby Football Union for Women. It was superseded in the 2017/18 season by Premi ...

. Knight works as a midwife while continuing her rugby career.

Personal background

Knight's birth was on 16 February 1989, and grew up in

Llanelli ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire and the Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is on the estuary of the River Loughor and is the largest town in the Principal areas of Wales, ...

. Her uncle is the Welsh 52-time capped international rugby union player Mark Taylor. She plays rugby in the scrum-half position, and was educated at Ysgol Dewi Sent and

Ysgol y Strade Ysgol Gyfun y Strade () (often known as ''Y Strade'') is a Welsh-medium education, Welsh-medium Comprehensive school (England and Wales), comprehensive school and sixth form in the town of Llanelli, Wales. It opened in September 1977 as a mixed ge ...

. Knight's physical education teacher at secondary school encouraged her to play alongside boys until she prohibited from doing so per school regulations. She matriculated to

Swansea University Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...

and studied medical genetics. She later went on to study to become a midwife at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

, having been inspired from support after giving birth when battling

Tokophobia Tokophobia is a significant fear of childbirth. It is a common reason why some women request an elective cesarean section. Factors often include a fear of pain, death, unexpected problems, injury to the baby, sexual problems and a lack of self- ...

. Knight's dissertation was on researching international athletes and the perspective of being pregnant and giving birth.

International career

She played rugby while studying after reaching an agreement with

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

. Knight combines her part-time midwife work with her rugby career for better family-work balance. When 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 ...

significantly affected the United Kingdom, Knight was required to separate herself from her husband and son to work long shifts at St Mary's Hospital in

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

for three months. She began competing in rugby when she was 12 years old and went on to played football for Wales at the Under 19 level due to a lack of provision for girls in her local area. A knee injury at age 16 ended her career in football. Following an operation to her knee that kept her out of sport for four years, Knight was able to make a serious return to playing and tried out

touch rugby Touch rugby refers to games derived from rugby league in which players do not tackle each other but instead touch their opponents using their hands on any part of the body, clothing, or the ball. A formal, competitive variety, known as Touch ...

and later full-contact rugby. She has played for Wales in

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

and mixed touch rugby. Knight also played with

Waunarlwydd ; is a local variant of ) is a village and community in Swansea, Wales, within the newly formed Waunarlwydd ward in 2021. Waunarlwydd became a community in 2022. New rugby club due late 2024 Transport Buses are provided by First Cymru: these a ...

, before moving to

Gorseinon Gorseinon is a town within the City and County of Swansea, Wales, near the Loughor estuary. It was a small village until the late 19th century, when it grew around the coal mining and tinplate industries. It is around north west of Swansea Ci ...

where she captained the team. Knight was also capped for Wales at the Under 20 level. Although she was due to earn her first international

at the

2014 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2014 Women's Six Nations Championship, also known as the 2014 RBS Women's Six Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 13th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby uni ...

, during pregnancy, Knight vowed to play for the senior team sometime in the future; she feared that would affect her career adversely. Knight asked a coach to draw up a fitness programme that was altered with each semester. She was shortlisted for the Wales women's national team side for the 2018 Women's Six Nations Championship. Knight made her debut for the Wales national team in a Six Nations match against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and she has gone to be capped a total of six times in her career.

Club career

At the club level, Knight played as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

for

in the

, and also competed for Cardiff Quins, Scarlets Ladies and

Dragons A dragon is a magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depict ...

. She won the 2017–18 Welsh Regional Championship before joining

of the

as a frequent player of the development side midway through the 2018–19 season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Jade 1989 births Living people Rugby union players from Llanelli Alumni of Swansea University Alumni of King's College London 21st-century Welsh sportswomen Welsh female rugby union players Wales women's international rugby union players Rugby union scrum-halves People educated at Ysgol y Strade Wales international women's rugby sevens players Welsh rugby sevens players Saracens Women rugby players British midwives