This time last year Rachel Philipps was teaching others in the classroom, but in recent months she has been doing a lot of learning herself on the rugby field and she is loving every minute of it.
Philipps will turn 23 on January 17 and when she does she will be able to take time and reflect on what has happened since she turned 22 – and the answer is a lot!
In the early part of the year after her birthday she turned out for Edinburgh Rugby, won a Sarah Beaney Cup with Watsonians and was teaching at St David’s RC High School.
Then in the summer she made up a rugby CV and sent it to professional clubs and she heard back from Louise Dalgliesh, the former Scotland cap who is now part of the coaching set up at Sale Sharks.
“I knew her from Scotland age-grade and development type things so it was good to hear from her,” Philipps said.
“Things developed and it was such a big opportunity when I got the chance to sign for a PWR club of the standing of Sale so I jumped at the opportunity.
“I moved down here and was able to do the first five-week block of early pre-season work and that was really beneficial to me to get to know the surroundings, the coaches, the players and just to get used to the environment and what was expected of me.”
Just as the strong-running centre was settling in Manchester, she got the call up from Scotland head coach Bryan Easson to join the wider national team training squad up at Oriam on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
At first it was just a late call-up as a ‘day trainer’ to aid her development, but fast forward a few weeks and she had forced her way into the 30-strong squad for the September Tests with Wales and Fiji and the WXV 2 event in South Africa.
“At first I was just really concentrating on my job as a day trainer,” Philipps stated.
“I just worked hard on learning all of the moves, fitting in and doing the best I could and then it was the last day of the training camp and we did around half an hour of a full contact game.
“I was in at 12 in the game and I was in the team with [Scotland vice-captain] Helen Nelson at 10 and it was a good experience and I just tried to do my best once again.
“It had only been a couple of weeks that I’d been with the squad so to then be told I was going to be part of the group preparing for the home Tests in September and then going to South Africa I could not really believe it.
“Although I did not get capped during that period it was so good to be part of the squad and seeing how things work day to day at that level and during a Test week.
“South Africa was amazing and I learnt so much on that trip which I have now been able to bring back to Sale and in the last couple of months I have really enjoyed getting some game time with my new club and, with 2025 around the corner, I am feeling in a good place.”
Philipp’s rugby journey began at Biggar when she was 15 after a taster session at the local high school she attended caught her imagination.
“I then went down to the rugby club to try it out more and I really did enjoy it from day one,” she explained.
“It was good that it was an athletic sport, but also one where you could be a bit physical too and I enjoyed that.
“I had played netball before and I was often getting flagged for contact and sticking my elbows in whereas that is more acceptable in rugby!
“The girls section at Biggar is brilliant and the club really works hard at it and it meant that I was coming straight into a very structured environment.
“I was still able to play under-15 rugby when I first arrived and that was helpful rather than going straight into the under-18s, it allowed me to learn the basics first and get to grips with things.
“We won the under-15 National Youth Cup that year and I had come into a strong team while we also had some success at under-18 level when I stepped up, so it was a really enjoyable time.”
After school Philipps was keen to pursue a teaching qualification and she managed to do that at Edinburgh University while also playing for the rugby team there.
“I got the best of both worlds at Edinburgh University really because I enjoyed my studies and I got to play and train in a performance rugby environment under Claire Cruikshank [now the Edinburgh Rugby head coach],” Philipps continued.
“We were playing in the top BUCS women’s leagues so we’d be travelling down south to play some top teams regularly and I was also able to train and play alongside some great players such as current Scotland cap Meryl Smith who was also my flat mate for a time.
“When I was there I felt like my rugby came on a lot from just running straight and hard to learning more about the tactical side of the sport.
“And having had a taste of age-grade rugby with Scotland and then been around girls at uni who had the same mindset as me about wanting to take their rugby to the next level it drove me on to see where I could take things after I graduated in 2023.”
In the 2023/24 season after leaving university Philipps played in the Premiership in Scotland with Watsonians. The Edinburgh club finished runners-up in the league and won the Sarah Beaney Cup with Philipps scoring a try and being one of the best players on the Murrayfield turf in the final 34-5 triumph over Hillhead Jordanhill.
Also that season she was involved with Edinburgh as they finished second in the Celtic Challenge.
“Being in those two environments last season was a great mix,” Philipps said.
“I had learnt a lot of high performance behaviours at university and I was able to take those into Watsonians and Edinburgh as I continued wanting to get better. I had such fun with the girls at Watsonians while the Celtic Challenge was a good step up for all of the players involved and again showed me the levels I had to hit regularly if I wanted to keep my rugby moving onwards and upwards.
“That season also taught me a lot about time management because as well as all of my rugby I was working at St David’s in Dalkeith doing a year of teaching.
“The head teacher there, Donny MacDonald, was so supportive and was always sharing things about my rugby on the school social media accounts while a few of the pupils would come down to my games and shout ‘Miss Philipps’ from the sidelines so that was really nice.”
Rachel Philipps is pictured in training with Scotland, thanks to Scottish Rugby
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