Gary Heatly in Bristol
Scotland’s talismanic figure Jade Konkel says she will “empty the tank for however long I have left in this shirt” after she announced that she will be retiring from international rugby after the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
The 31-year-old made the announcement on Friday evening and is set to win her 74th cap in the quarter-final versus England in Bristol on Sunday (4pm, live on BBC One).
The Scots are big underdogs for that one and if it is to be the No.8’s last time in the jersey at Ashton Gate then she will be able to look back on 74 caps with great pride.
Everything she has every got out of rugby she has had to fight hard for and earn while she has never been afraid to push herself out of her comfort zone.
That started in her late teens when she began making the long drive from the Black Isle to Glasgow regularly to play for Hillhead/Jordanhill and continued when she was first capped off the bench versus England as a 19-year-old in 2013.
In 2016 she became the first ever female rugby player in Scotland to be given a full-time professional contract by Scottish Rugby and that meant her upping sticks to France to play at the top level with Lille Metropole in 2017.
Since then she has become a real leader at Harlequins, joined the London Fire Brigade, got married to Helen, battled through injuries and played at two World Cups for the Scots.
Speaking on her time playing for Scotland, Konkel said: “It’s really hard to find the words because I’ve been in this squad since I was 18, that’s literally my entire adult life and it’s because I have had the most incredible 13 years.
“The incredible players I have played with, the management and people behind the scenes, the places I have gone, you know I’m from the Highlands, a very small place on the Black Isle and never in my wildest dreams did I think I would play for Scotland, let alone move to France, move to London – to have so many incredible memories just from playing a sport is special.
“Yes, it’s come with the ups and downs, the injuries, but it’s also come with the best memories and ones I will be telling on my death bed because they are some of the most special memories that I will have in my whole entire life.
That’s credit to the beautiful sport we play and the people that are in the environment as well.
“When I started with the squad in 2013 we obviously had a run of tough losses. In 2017 we played Ireland in the opening match of the Six Nations and we were drawn 15-all, and in the last play of the game Ireland scored but it was the closest we had ever come to beating them, and it was just kind of the start of a really good campaign.
“We beat Wales at home the next 18-17, and that was the first time I had ever won in a Six Nations in a Scotland shirt. It was just absolutely incredible, the emotion was through the roof for everybody. That game really meant a lot.
“But to top that, it would have to be the Ireland game in our Rugby World Cup Qualifier in Italy in 2021. Obviously, we had missed out on the last two and when we finally beat them, it was very much a case of realising we had one more hurdle to go. We then beat Colombia in early 2022 to qualify for the event in New Zealand and things have built since then.”
Scotland squad to play England: Chloe Rollie; Rhona Lloyd, Emma Orr, Lisa Thomson, Francesca McGhie; Helen Nelson, Leia Brebner-Holden; Leah Bartlett, Lana Skeldon, Christine Belisle, Emma Wassell, Sarah Bonar, Rachel Malcolm (C), Evie Gallagher, Jade Konkel. Subs: Elis Martin, Molly Wright, Molly Poolman, Eva Donaldson, Rachel McLachlan, Alex Stewart, Caity Mattinson, Evie Wills.
The England matchday 23 is here.
Jade Konkel is pictured earlier in the tournament versus Wales – thanks to N50 Photography
From August 7 until September 30, GH Media will be following the Scotland World Cup journey all of the way. We will be at all of the Scotland matches down south and will be bringing you all of the interviews and news from camp as well as taking a wider look at the tournament as a whole and its impact on the women’s game. Thanks to Quirky Chocolate and other supporters for allowing this content to happen and to readers for engaging with it.