A REAL HIGH FLYER
England wing Breach jets in from Japan at last minute to lead Quins’ title quest
JESS BREACH is enjoying a whirlwind start to her England rugby career, travelling more than 41,000 miles this year, winning a Commonwealth Games bronze medal and establishing her reputation as a world-class try-scoring wing.
That is why Harlequins Ladies were delighted to discover their most dangerous attacker was prepared to play in today’s inaugural Tyrrells Premier 15s final against Saracens Women at Ealing Trailfinders RFC despite only returning from Japan on Monday night. She trained with the team on Thursday to confirm jet lag was no longer an issue.
Living with the effects of longhaul flights and time zone changes has become all too familiar for Breach, who made a spectacular debut for England against Canada in November, running in a remarkable six tries and adding another five in the third and final match of the series.
Not surprisingly, those scoring feats earned a place in the England women’s sevens squad and her debut in the Sydney leg of the HSBC World Sevens series at the end of January saw her run in nine tries and initiated a globetrotting schedule that she admits is ‘crazy’.
The 20-year-old flew back from Sydney to help Harlequins defeat Richmond 14-12 at the Twickenham Stoop in front of a British record crowd for a women’s club match of 4,542 and then linked up again with the England sevens squad and headed to t he Gold Coast where they defeated Canada to claim Commonwealth Games bronze. England then flew from Australia to Japan for the next leg of the World Sevens in Kitakyushu before an internal flight took them to Tokyo and the long haul home.
Breach faces a trip of just 79 miles today from the family home in Chichester to Ealing on a significant day for women’s rugby and, having already scored 16 tries in the Tyrrells league, she poses the biggest threat to Saracens.
So how has she dealt with all of the travelling? ‘It is insane. The furthest I had flown before the Sydney Sevens was to Singa- pore on a family holiday and my Dad told me to start collecting the airmiles on that first trip to Australia because it is going to be really good for the future! ‘It has been a bit of a whirlwind f or me and this time l ast year I was playing in Under 20 rugby and suddenly it has all happened. It is fun and great for the game to see young players coming through. There are so many opportunities. It is a bit crazy to get back on the Monday and go to training on the Thursday and play on Sunday — crazy! ‘The bronze medal has come back in my rucksack and I hadn’t been home to Chichester for t hree and a half weeks because of the Games and then Japan and I was delighted to find my parents hadn’t let out my room! I haven’t really had a chance to reflect on what has been an incredible 2018 and I think that it will only now start to kick in. What made winning the medal more special was having my parents [John and Trisha] out in Australia as well.’
This first season of the Premier 15s league is aimed at raising the profile of women’s club rugby in England following the success of last year’s World Cup when England were beaten by New Zealand in an outstanding final. ‘When I played rugby with boys they didn’t like giving me the ball and so I moved to the girls,’ said Breach.
‘ We hope this final will help continue the growth in interest in the women’s game and the U15s and U18s finals are also being held at Ealing before our game.
‘This is a really important time for the sport.’
Tyrrells Premier 15 final HARLEQUINS v SARACENS 3pm