Jasmine Joyce-Butchers ( ''née'' Joyce; born 9 October 1995) is a Welsh rugby union player who plays

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

for the Wales women's national rugby union team, Team GB and

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 18 ...

. She made her debut for the Wales national squad in 2017, and represented them at 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 ...

Club career

Joyce began playing rugby at the age of seven, first joining the mini-section of St. Davids RFC before moving to the women's youth team at Haverfordwest RFC aged 12. At 15, her skills were spotted by talent scouts for the

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...

, and she joined the Scarlets women's under 18s programme. After impressing with her speed in training she was placed on the wing, and scored three tries on her full debut against the

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 quickly became an integral part of the under 18s team and soon progressed to the senior squad. Joyce then signed with her current club, the Bristol Bears, in 2020.

International career

Joyce has been active within international rugby since 2013, when she was selected as part of the Wales A Squad for the UK school games. From there she was called into the Welsh squad to train for the extended Six Nations Wales squad. In 2015, just three months into her studies at Cardiff Metropolitan University, Joyce was selected to play for the Wales women's national rugby sevens team for the Dubai Sevens tournament. From that point she was a regular to the women's sevens team and played for Wales at the 2015 European Championships that was held over two legs in Russia and France. In 2016, Joyce was one of the first British women – and the only Welsh woman on the Great Britain women's rugby sevens team – to play rugby on the Olympic stage after the sport was reintroduced for

Rio 2016 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 ...

. She was then selected for the Wales 2016/17 Six Nations squad where she made two appearances, making her debut against Scotland in 2017. Joyce then went on to represent Wales at the 2017 Rugby World Cup and 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 ...

. Following her appearance at the 2021 Women's Six Nations Championship, she was called up to the Team GB sevens squad ahead of the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Joyce has won 19 caps in her rugby career to date. She was selected in

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

squad for the

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 ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. In June 2024, she was named in the British squad for the

2024 Paris Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

and became the first British women rugby player to be selected for three separate Games. The team finished seventh. She was named in the Welsh fifteens 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 ...

in March.

Personal life

Born in

St Davids St Davids or St David's (, , "David's house”) is a cathedral city in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It lies on the River Alun and is part of the community of St Davids and the Cathedral Close. It is the resting place of Saint David, Wales's ...

in Wales, Joyce attended Ysgol Dewi Sant before moving to Cardiff Metropolitan University. After three years as a personal trainer, Joyce decided to move into teaching, and started studying for a PGCE at the

University of Wales Trinity Saint David The University of Wales Trinity Saint David () is a public university with three main campuses in South West Wales, in Carmarthen, Lampeter and Swansea, a fourth campus in London, and learning centres in Cardiff, and Birmingham. The university ...

in Swansea. She attributes her motivation to teach to her own primary school PE teacher. In an interview with ''Wales247'', she said: "My PE teacher Rachael Thomas was one of the driving forces which led me to where I am now. I've always wanted to train to be a teacher probably because of the good experiences I had at both my primary and secondary schools. In particular Rachael was an amazing support when I started my rugby training, encouraging me to succeed." In December 2023 she married her Bristol and Wales teammate Alisha Butchers.

References

External links

Jasmine Joyce
at the

Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; ) is the governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU is responsible for the running of rugby in Wales, overseeing 320 member clu ...

* * * *
Jasmine Joyce
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Joyce, Jasmine 1995 births Living people People from St Davids Rugby union players from Pembrokeshire Welsh female rugby union players Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players for Great Britain Great Britain women's international rugby sevens players Rugby union wings People educated at Ysgol Dewi Sant Welsh rugby sevens players Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Wales international women's rugby sevens players Wales women's international rugby union players Rugby sevens players at the 2023 European Games European Games medalists in rugby sevens European Games gold medalists for Great Britain Bristol Bears Women players Rugby sevens players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for Wales British LGBTQ rugby union players Welsh lesbian sportswomen Barbarian F.C. Women players Rugby sevens players at the 2024 Summer Olympics