England sevens and Wasps winger Ellie Boatman has become a dual-code try scoring sensation this season as she finds herself in scintillating form in both the seven and 15-a-side game.
“It’s been a whirlwind of a season,” said Boatman.
Boatman currently sits joint second in the Allianz Premier 15’s try-scoring ranks and was England’s highest try scorer in the Malaga and Seville sevens with nine tries.
“I did not expect it all at the moment,” she said.
“It’s been amazing with some really cool opportunities so far. I have really enjoyed this season.”
Growing up in a rugby mad family in Camberley, Ellie decided that instead of watching her brother play and her dad coach the game that she would take up the game herself at the age of four.
She said: “I started at four at Camberley Rugby Club. I got bored of standing on the sidelines watching my brother play.
“When I started playing – I was one of the only girls to be playing rugby.”
At the age of 11, when Ellie could no longer join in with the boys, she made the move to London Irish to carry on playing the game she loved.
However, by her teenage years her love for rugby had sadly faded. It was not until she was at Southampton University that Ellie began to play the game again.
“First I was on the riding team and then started playing for the women’s rugby team. Then I started playing for local Southampton side Trojans RFC and it went from there. I think a lot of girls pick it up at uni.
“At schools, girls rugby just was not a thing. Then you get to university and I think it attracts women. It’s great to see girls finding rugby at uni but hopefully we can get rugby into schools.
“The more girls playing younger will help the girl’s pathways and then we will see a lot more talent coming through.
“There are definitely more girl’s teams around and schools are playing sevens. Hopefully we can see more of that.”
From university, Boatman spent a season at Saracens and Richmond before moving to Wasps in 2020.
It was at Richmond when people started to take notice of the speedy winger.
“That’s where things started for me,” she said. “I was playing at outside centre or on the wing and I got game time and started to get noticed a lot more. It was really good for me.”
This season, Ellie has gone from strength to strength – constantly scoring tries for Wasps.
She even scored a try at Twickenham in the #BigGame13 for Wasps Women vs Harlequins.
England sevens
Despite playing 15-a-side rugby for Wasps, Ellie’s current focus is on rugby sevens.
At Christmas, she was informed that she would be handed a full-time England sevens contract.
Before this, Ellie was working as a qualified personal trainer whilst also doing photoshoots and part time customer service roles to support her rugby journey.
A full-time contract allowed her to focus solely on her rugby.
Within a month she was thrust straight into the international sporting arena as part of the England squad for the Malaga and Seville sevens.
“To get that cap and when you get your shirt – your rose, given to you it is such a special feeling. It’s a celebration of what you have achieved in one shirt presentation”
After spending only two weeks together, England were straight into the Malaga tournament.
“The first week went ok, we had some good games and not so good games.”
However, in Seville – the England side went on to claim a bronze medal for their efforts.
“It was an emotional rollercoaster,” said Boatman who scored nine tries in the tournament. No one expected that (3rd place) of a new team.”
The next target for the England sevens team is July’s home Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
The rugby sevens will be played at the Coventry Building Society Arena. “Playing at the Wasps stadium is special for me”, said Boatman.
Following their success in Seville, Boatman is eyeing “special” medal success again.
There’s the small manner of September’s sevens World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa to come.
But after the World Cup, the shift in focus will be preparing for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Sevens has seen new nations compete at the top level of international rugby that don’t compete at the top level in the 15-a-side tournaments.
Boatman sees sevens rugby as a way of helping the game grow around the world.
“We played Belgium and Spain this year and will play Mexico in the future which is great for the game,” she said.
Ellie Boatman has had a stellar year in the 15-a-side game, as the Wasps winger sits third in the Allianz Premier 15’s try scoring charts with 13 tries.
Despite concentrating on the England sevens side, she has not thought too far ahead about representing her country in the 15-a-side team.
When asked whether she would play for the Red Roses in the future, she said: “I’d never say never. Maybe one day.”
Whatever the code, Boatman can’t seem to stop scoring tries and is becoming one of the most talked about uncapped 15-a-side players in the country.
“Sevens has massively helped with my confidence that is really helping with my 15’s stuff,” she said.
Reflecting on the last year, she said: “It’s been amazing with some really cool opportunities so far so I have really enjoyed this season.”
International Women’s day
The Rugby Paper caught up with Ellie Boatman on International Women’s Day.
The Wasps winger has been encouraged with the surging popularity of women’s rugby.
The BBC stream Allianz Premier 15’s rugby though the iPlayer. With this has come increased coverage of the competition.
Every Sunday, The Rugby Paper bring you match reports from Saturday’s Premier 15’s action.
Ellie Boatman said: “You definitely see a lot more women’s rugby articles now.”
“At the weekend we were live streamed by BBC Sport and when you looked at the BBC Sport page afterwards you saw 30/40% of the articles on women’s rugby which was the highest I think it has ever been.”
Reflecting on when she was a rugby-loving child, she said: “For me I remember I was the age of girls who come to watch us are not having any female rugby players to look up to.
“It wasn’t on the TV so I had no-one to look up to. So now it is so important to see the younger girls coming through women’s rugby.
“It is growing so much at the moment and we get so much enjoyment in seeing young girls seeing us play.”
There’s one Wasps fan in particular who looks up to Boatman and the rest of the Wasps squad.
“I have a little superfan at Wasps called Livvy who was my mascot at the weekend which was really special. It was great to see.”
Written by BENJAMIN REDWOOD
