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Louise Rickard: Wales centurion who enjoyed 'pushing my body to the limit'
By Adam Julian
Louise Rickard is a machine. The biology teacher still trains three times a day and was a pivotal figure in the English Masters 35s touch team that won the European championship in 2022 with an unblemished 10-0 record, outscoring opponents 109-10.
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Previously the 54-year-old was the first Welsh rugby player male or female to earn 100 caps for her country. The centre played 112 tests for Wales between 1993 and 2010.
Additionally, she was a national karate, hockey, bobsleigh, and sevens performance athlete and a finalist on the BBC series SAS: Are You Tough Enough?
What drives such an appetite for sporting success?
“To play at the highest level with like-minded people,” Rickard tells RugbyPass.
“I love training, playing, competing and pushing my body to the limit. I’ve known nothing different. It’s wonderful that women’s rugby is becoming professional. It will allow players to commit 100 per cent to the game, without the distraction of a full-time job”
Rickard was born in Warrington, North Yorkshire, England. Her Welsh connection is on her Mother’s side. Warrington’s economy has been largely manufacturing, but Rickard took a different path.
An exceptional centre-forward in hockey, she cracked the Welsh University side. However, at university, she was often frustrated by others’ lack of commitment to training.
Following a year in California on scholarship as part of her Zoology degree, she was enticed to rugby, where the feeling of playing was euphoric.
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“I’d played rugby once before at school and tackled the biggest lad on the pitch, even though he didn’t have the ball. I didn’t know what I was doing,” Rickard laughed.
“Rugby at university clinched it for me, though women’s rugby was very polarising in Wales at the time. Many considered it a man’s sport and those who hated women playing let you know about it.”
Wales played their first international against England in Pontypool in 1987. Rickard was first selected in 1992 for another England encounter but didn’t play. Her Test debut was at the 1993 Canada Cup against England.
Wales were beaten 23-5 but during the same tournament, they beat Scotland 23-0 to achieve a maiden international victory after 14 outings.
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Scotland hosted the 1994 World Cup, a hastily arranged tournament after the Netherlands withdrew as hosts.
Wales achieved their best World Cup result by making the semi-finals. They beat Canada (11-5) and Kazakhstan (29-8) in the group phase before topping Scotland (8-0) in the quarter-finals. They came unstuck against defending champions USA (56-15) in a tough semi-final.
“It was a big learning experience,” Rickard says. “I’d gone from playing university rugby to international rugby within a year. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of playing at this level and having to learn quickly. I thoroughly enjoyed being ‘in camp’ and having the close-knit atmosphere and camaraderie of my teammates.”
Liza ‘Bird’ Burgess is the only Welsh woman in the World Rugby Hall of Fame. The back-rower captained Wales in 62 of her 87 Test matches. She is a leading advocate of the game and a coach.
Rickard identified Burgess as a vital figure in her longevity. “As a second row, Liza was a world-class player, a typically gritty Welsh forward who tackled everyone, had outstanding ball handling and lineout skills, and led by example,” she says.
“I was later coached by Liza, and she was very insightful using her game experience to coach the finer technical points of the game while also understanding all the shenanigans and gamesmanship that goes on at the international level. The amount of time she’s given to women’s rugby is phenomenal. She’s dedicated her life to it.”
The 1996 season would be a game-changer with the advent of the Six Nations. It started as the Home Nations championship, with four teams: England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In 1999 it became the Five Nations, with France joining the original four. Expansion to six countries, with the initial inclusion of Spain, happened in 2002.
“The Six Nations allowed you to pit your wits against different opponents and styles. The greater frequency, speed and intensity of games meant that you developed into a better player,” Rickard says.
“I played many Tests on the wing but my most natural position was outside centre. I loved the space, could step, and had some speed back in the day which allowed me to both create and score. Unfortunately, speed seems to go as you get older.”
Wales results have been up and down for most of their existence, typified by an especially fierce rivalry with fellow Celts Scotland. The Scots won 13 of the first 16 Tests up to 2006. Wales won 17 of the next 19.
“In 1993, I captained a Welsh students side that beat England with many players from that game becoming fully capped internationals. It’s frustrating that with this talent we didn’t regularly achieve wins at the full international level,” Rickard adds.
“The Welsh team had some great players at the time. Bess Evans was a real quality scrum half. Our backrowers ‘Billy, Blod, and Bird’ were a force to be reckoned with. Rhian Williams debuted with me in midfield aged 16. Today we play masters touch together.
“Our playing style did evolve. At the start, it was stick it up your jumper and then kick. When we started playing more expansively results improved.”
In 2004, Wales achieved something their men hadn’t. They won a Test series in South Africa, claiming both Tests 16-15 and 8-5, but 2006 was a watershed moment. Wales were second in the Six Nations earning their first success in a decade against Scotland before toppling France for the first time.
The Scottish Test was won 5-0 following a solitary try from Rachel Poolman. However, the match had to be switched from Pontypridd to Treforst because of a frozen pitch at Sardis Road.
Wales then rallied from going behind to stun France 11-10. A try from scrum-half and captain Mel Berry and two penalties from Philippa Tuttiett were the source of the Welsh points. The match was delayed for an hour though when gifted outside back Non Evans broke her leg.
More success followed at the European Women’s Sevens championship in Limoges, France. After losing to England (7-0) in pool play, Wales rallied to win the tournament beating Switzerland (32-0), Spain (10-3), Netherlands (29-0), and England (10-7) in the final.
“To finally beat England in a senior international was very special. We conceded the first try but found the fortitude to win,” Rickard says.
“I loved sevens, it’s a runner’s game because there is so much space on the pitch. I captained the Welsh sevens team in 2000 at the Hong Kong 7s, which was an incredible experience due to the atmosphere created by the passion of the players and supporters.”
March 11, 2007, was another special day for Rickard. Wales beat Italy 24-0 in Rome with Rickard passing Gareth Llewellyn’s record of most Wales caps on her 93rd Test appearance.
In the 2008 Six Nations, Rickard scored a try in a 19-10 victory over Ireland. The Welsh also beat Scotland (23-6), Italy (27-5) and France (3-0) in Rickard’s 100th Test.
In a bona fide classic on a quagmire at Taffs Well Michaela Reed’s penalty was the only score against France. Tragically, Rachel Poolman suffered a spiral fracture in her fibula which halted the contest for several minutes in the first half but it was also memorable for twins Louise and Claire Horgan propping the scrum.
“My 100th Test for Wales was something special. Mum and Dad came to watch, and it was an oppressive atmosphere and battle like it always was when we played France, with Allé Les Bleu ringing around the ground,” Rickard recalls.
“Milestones weren’t something you were aware of because people didn’t keep or promote records like they do today. I had no idea I was Wales’ most-capped player until somebody told me.”
In the first week of the 2009 Six Nations, Rickard won her record 104th cap (passing Gareth Thomas to become her country’s most-capped player once again) in Wales’ 31-10 win over Scotland.
On Valentine’s Day, Wales faced England, unbeaten in 23 consecutive Tests, at Taffs Well. They had never beaten the Red Roses in 22 previous meetings and were 12-8 down at half-time thanks to an intercept try from Fiona Pocock and one from Emily Scarratt. Captain Mel Berry had scored for Wales.
Scarratt was sin-binned in the second half and Aimee Young put Wales 13-12 ahead in the 54th minute with a try.
“You start thinking is this going to happen?” Rickard admits. “I hope we can hang on and I don’t make a mistake. I’ve got to make my tackles. When you’re winning against a team you have played a lot and are desperate to beat it is easy to tense up and not play the game out when in a winning position.”
Katy Daley-Mclean kicked a penalty to restore England’s advantage but there would be a final twist in the tale.
“We won a penalty and Non Evans had to put the kick over for us to win the game. She must have been under the most incredible pressure but to all our relief she nailed it. Beating England and winning the Triple Crown was one of the highlights of my career,” Rickard reflected
Rickard was nominated for BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year in 2009 and considered retirement but the lure of a World Cup in 2010 was too much for the then 38-year-old to resist. She played her final Test match in a loss to the Black Ferns at lock.
“I wanted to carry on training and help mentor the younger players in the squad. I felt I had a lot to offer in that regard,” she says. “I came on in the last 20 minutes. It was a lovely way to finish my career against the eventual world champions.”
Rickard was far from finished in sport. She is a long-time exponent of Karate.
“I never actually got my black belt,” Rickard says. “I couldn’t take my black belt as my license was out of date by 12 hours. I entered the Welsh championships on several occasions giving me a black belt.
“I achieved second a couple of times in Wales though one year I should have won. I knocked my opponent out and was deemed to have used too much force. It turned out her boyfriend was the judge.”
Bobsleigh was another sport pursued. Rickard even trained with the British squad.
“I was doing athletics in Ipswich where I became friendly and trained with a hammer throw coach Malcom Fenton who was also strength and conditioning coach for the British bobsleigh team,” she reveals.
“Bobsleigh is not dissimilar to rugby in the sense that hitting the Bobsleigh at the start is like hitting a scrum machine. You need that raw speed and power.”
Sport continues to dominate Rickard’s life, through touch, alongside teaching and she insists there is no substitute for “a bit of hard graft”.
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