Rachel Taylor (born 13 June 1983) is a Welsh former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who plays in either

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or back row for the Bristol Ladies/ Newport Gwent Dragons 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 won her first international cap against

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in 2007, and has since captained the team. Following retirement in 2018, she became the first female head coach of a WRU National League club side, before becoming the skills coach for Wales Women between November 2020 and February 2021. In September 2021, Taylor joined Premiership Womens Rugby team Sale Sharks Women as the club's performance coach.

Early life

Rachel Taylor was born in Bangor on 13 June 1983. She began playing rugby at the age of five, later describing her family as "rugby-orientated" since her father was a rugby coach and her older brother already played for a local team. Although she tried a variety of sports in her youth, she returned to rugby. Once her brother switched to playing

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, she focused on rugby, seeking to play for her national team. She is trained as a

Paraveterinary worker A paraveterinary worker is a professional of veterinary medicine who performs procedures autonomously or semi-autonomously, as part of a veterinary assistance system. The job role varies throughout the world, and common titles include veterinary ...

, and gave the keynote speech at the

British Veterinary Association The British Veterinary Association (BVA) is the national body for veterinary surgeons in the United Kingdom, and is a not-for-profit organisation. Its purpose is that of knowledge dissemination, which is important in the veterinary profession to ...

in 2017.

Playing career

As of 2017, her official Wales Rugby Union biography states that she is tall and weighs . She has been given the nickname "Tails" by her teammates. She made her debut for the

against

in 2007. She was first named as captain of the team in 2012 for the

Women's Six Nations Championship The Women's Six Nations Championship, known as the Guinness Women's Six Nations for sponsorship purposes, is an international rugby union competition featuring six European women's national teams. It started in the 1995–96 season as the Home ...

. Taylor won her 50th cap for Wales when she played against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in the

2015 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2015 Women's Six Nations Championship, also known as the 2015 RBS Women's Six Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 14th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual Women's rugby unio ...

. She has continued to captain her national team, including at the

2016 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2016 Women's Six Nations Championship, also known as the 2016 RBS Women's Six Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 15th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union ...

. She is also involved in encouraging women's rugby at a grassroots level, being the Wales Rugby Union coordinator for the RGC West area in North Wales. This was in preparation for a transition from her playing career into retirement.

References

1983 births Living people Rugby union players from Bangor, Gwynedd Wales women's international rugby union players Welsh female rugby union players 21st-century Welsh sportswomen Women veterinarians Wales international women's rugby sevens players Welsh rugby sevens players Rugby union locks Alumni of Cardiff Metropolitan University Bristol Bears Women players British veterinarians {{Wales-rugbyunion-bio-stub