Key Facts
| Squad | Richmond |
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| Position | Lock/Back row |
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| Age | 30 |
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| Height | 1.77m (5'10") |
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| Weight | 75kg (11st 11lb) |
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| Caps | 41 |
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Since starting on the wing, Rebecca Essex has made an unusual career move to the pack and appears as a lock or blind side flanker nowadays. Four members of her family have also played the game, including sister Kathryn, her rugby guru.
Becky’s first representative honours were for England Students in 2004-05 after she took up the game when 20. Appearances for England Academy and A team followed from 2005-07 before she gained the first of her 41 full Test caps that include starts in both victories over the Black Ferns at Twickenham and Esher in November 2011 and in the drawn third Test.
2010 was a vintage year for Becky with awards as England Players’ Player and Richmond’s Player of the Season. Her best memories, though, are the 10-3 win over New Zealand in front of a record 12,500 crowd at Twickenham in November 2009 and again in 2011. She also helped Richmond to win the Premiership in both the past two seasons and has also played Sevens in Dubai.
Becky, who was born in Grantham, was schooled in Horsham at Chesworth Junior and Millais School before she took A levels at Colliers College and a BSc in Psychology at Loughborough University. She now works as a primary school teacher in a special needs’ school at Linden Bridge, Worcester Park in Surrey.
Playing for England in Madrid and Canada are on her CV but Twickenham Stadium remains her top ground. Rebecca’s other sporting penchant is for athletics and hockey at which she figures at county level and before joining Richmond she was with Worcester from 2003-06. That’s the home club of her favourite women’s player Karen Jones, a 32-times capped Number 8. Tom Croft, the England flanker, is her most admired rugby technician. She has been a vegan for 12 years.
Last updated: March 19, 2013
