Sarah Alison McKenna (born 23 March 1989) is an English

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 ...

and

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 ...

player. She is a member of the England Women's Rugby Team and plays for Saracens Women's at club level.

International career

McKenna made her debut for the

England national team Team England usually refers to the name under which athletes representing Commonwealth Games England compete. England team or Team England may refer to: *Commonwealth Games England *England national football team *England cricket team *England nat ...

in August 2011 in a 15–11 victory over the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. She also played for the country's

team the same year and focused on sevens for some years after. She played 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 ...

in which England came fourth. In 2015, she was also part of the team to finish third in the first round of the Rugby Europe 7s Grand Prix, but was forced out for nine months due to an ankle injury. The same injury caused her to miss the

2016 Summer Olympics 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 returned to international rugby in 2018, playing in three World Rugby Women's Sevens series events. She was also selected for the England squad playing in the

Rugby World Cup Sevens Rugby World Cup Sevens (RWCS) was the former quadrennial world championship of rugby sevens, a variant of rugby union. Organised by World Rugby, it consisted of men's and women's tournaments, and was the highest level of competition in the sport ...

in San Francisco that year, in which the team placed ninth. She returned to the Women's Six Nations in 2019, starting every game at full back for England. The country won the tournament with a

Grand Slam Grand Slam or Grand slam may refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category terminology originating in contract bridge and other whist card games Athletics * Grand Slam Track, professional track and field league Auto racing * ...

. That same year, McKenna played for England in the Super Series in the USA. She was one of the first 28 players to be offered a full time contract by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) as they were first offered in 2019. She continues to play for England, most recently as part of the 2020 Women's Six Nations team. She was named in the England squad for the delayed

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 ...

held in New Zealand in October and November 2022.

Club career

She first joined

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 ...

in 2013. She was on the squad that won the Premiers title in the 2014/2015 season. In 2018 she rejoined Saracens and was instrumental in the side again taking the Tyrells

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 ...

title in 2019. She is Head Coach for

Old Albanian RFC Old Albanian Rugby Football Club (OAs) is a rugby union club based in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. The club currently play in National League 2 East. History The club was formed in 1924 by a group of Old Boys of St Albans School. They ...

Saints women's rugby team based in St Albans, Hertfordshire.

Early life and education

McKenna attended Grove Junior School and

Roundwood Park School Roundwood Park School is a non-selective state secondary school with academy status situated in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. Opened in 1956, it currently has around 1300 pupils, most of whom live in the local area and surrounding v ...

. She began playing rugby at the age of 6 in her hometown of

Harpenden Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,674 in the 2021 census, while the population of the civil parish was 31,128. Harpe ...

, playing at Harpenden RFC where her father coached minis rugby. As a teenager, McKenna played netball at county level.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenna, Sarah 1989 births Living people England women's international rugby union players English female rugby union players English rugby union coaches People educated at Roundwood Park School People from Harpenden England international women's rugby sevens players Saracens Women rugby players Rugby union players from Hertfordshire Rugby union fullbacks 21st-century English sportswomen