Katherine Elizabeth "Kat" Merchant (born 29 October 1985) is an English female rugby union player who represented her country 58 times and scored 44 tries.
 playing for Worcester in 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 29 October 1985 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Place of birth | Brighton, East Sussex, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 72 kg (159 lb; 11 st 5 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Life
editMerchant was playing serious rugby when she was sixteen. She graduated from Birmingham University in Sport and Exercise Science in 2007.[1]
She was playing for Worcester when she began her nine-year international career during the 2005 Six Nations. She played the 7 player and 15 player game and took part in two World Cups in both variations.[2] She represented England at the 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup[3] and was named in the squad for the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup.[4] She was a member of the squad to the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens[5]
She announced her retirement in September 2014 with immediate effect on medical grounds, as she had taken a number of concussions.[2]
In 2015 she was the coach for the Sri Lanka national team.[6] As of September 2021[update] she was a personal trainer,[7] and coach of Old Streetonians Rugby Club in central London.
References
edit- ^ "Rugby alumni". University of Birmingham Sport. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.
- ^ a b "Trio of Women's Rugby World Cup winners retire". England Rugby. RFU. 8 September 2014. Archived from the original on 29 March 2015.
- ^ "England Women storm to opening World Cup win over Irish". BBC Sport. 20 August 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
- ^ "Street Names England Women's Rugby World Cup Squad". In the Loose. 10 July 2014. Archived from the original on 28 October 2015.
- ^ Alison Donnelly (June 2013). "World Cup 7s Squads". Scrum Queens. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- ^ "Kat Merchant - Sri Lanka Women's Rugby Coach". YouTube. ThePapare.com. 7 November 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
- ^ "Women's rugby star Kat Merchant hits out at online trolls". BBC News. 17 September 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2022.