Scholar drives England to Six Nations Win

The third year Exercise and Sports Science student scored a try and kicked eight conversions to help England sweep aside a stunned Scotland. In all twelve tries were scored in a whitewash that saw England win 76 – 0.

The match saw Amber, who made her international senior’s debut in November, score her first try in an England shirt after 35 minutes. Good work from centre Abigail Chamberlain freed up space for the No. 12 who made no mistake, touching down between the posts before adding the conversion herself.

Amber commented “I thoroughly enjoyed the game. Scotland came at us for the first 20 minutes with some solid defence and were very disruptive at the breakdown, slowing our ball down. We didn't panic though and kept our patience despite a few errors and after Sarah Hunter scored the first try the game started to open up for us.

There was a lot of talk before the game about the 16 players that were missing due to International 7s selection so it was important for us to lay down a good platform to start the Six Nations and I feel we did that. It was by no means perfect and there are still things we need to work on to make us better for the forth coming games but there are a lot of positives we can take from Saturday and looking forward to Ireland away this weekend.”

Rugby is one of the University of Exeter’s 10 focus sports offering specialist training sessions and video analysis to specially selected students. As a sports scholar Amber also receives dedicated funding to help cover her sporting expenses and mentoring to help her balance her studies and international sporting commitments.

During her time at University Amber plays for the women’s first team in the British Universities and Colleges Sport League. The team are enjoying a superb season this year, currently placed second in the Premier South Division of the BUCS league.

Jo Yapp, High Performance Women’s Rugby Manager and former England International commented, “Amber has played exceptionally well this season and her performance this weekend highlights her dedication and talent. The result is a brilliant reward for all of the hard work that Amber has put in and will help to further establish her position at the top of international rugby”.