Sue Day: Firsts & Lasts
In our series on England captains’ first and last Test at the helm, we talk to Grand Slam winning captain, Sue Day.
Sue Day discovered rugby at university, having not had the chance to play before.
Cricket, netball, and hockey had been her sports until, on a university year abroad teaching in Barcelona, she was introduced to the game which saw her excel.
There followed 59 England caps, 61 tries and a career that embraced wing, centre and full back. Fleet of foot, evasive and safe under the high ball Daisy, as she was known to team mates, never gave less than 100%.
Three Rugby World Cup tournaments, and three Grand Slams were part of her rugby CV which was almost curtailed by a serious leg injury early on. It was largely injuries that denied her the captaincy role until she was hugely experienced.
By then she knew that training the brain was as fundamental as training the body and that belief mattered above all.
It is only recently that elite women players have been able to devote their whole time to the game. When Sue played for England she also worked as an accountant three days a week for KPMG.
After hanging up her boots, she commentated on women’s rugby for Sky Sports, became Wasps FC’s first ever female President and a partner in Corporate Finance at her accountancy firm.
She is now Chief Financial Officer of the Rugby Football Union, with the same determination to lead a high performing team that she brought to the rugby pitch.
Having stepped up on a couple of occasions from vice-captain to scrum half Jo Yapp, Sue’s first and last captain’s run came in the 2007 Grand Slam season. With many of the senior players retiring after the 2006 Rugby World Cup, it was her task to both settle and motivate the new caps arriving in camp.
They kicked off with a 60-0 victory over Scotland at St Albans and sealed the Grand Slam with a 30-0 triumph against Wales at Taffs Well in the shadow of the Garth Mountain.
England 60-0 Scotland 3 February 2007
Sue was on the wing and scored the opening try after five minutes and another at the start of the second half.
“The England coach, Geoff Richards, asked me to meet him for a coffee in a Whitton High Street café. We met regularly for feedback, to talk about performances and I thought it was one of those catch ups.
“I was one of a small number of senior players who hadn’t retired after the previous year’s World Cup. I had lost a lot of time through injury early in my career and I wanted to stick around for another season. I thought there was a really important job to be done in bringing the younger players on but I wasn’t expecting to get asked to be captain that day.
“I think Geoff bought the coffees – we had a huge budget in those days! He got quickly to the point, didn’t leave me hanging. I felt this huge burst of pride. It felt really exciting with all the kids coming through, the likes of Rachael Burford, Nolli Waterman, Katy McLean, Sarah Hunter.
“I think the conversation was that they were so young, that we needed to create an environment to bring out the best in them, one relaxed enough to help them thrive but setting the right example, everyone there five minutes early for meetings, having the right kit, the right attitude. Playing for England is a great responsibility, a great privilege. And should also be great fun.
“Once Geoff had gone I phoned my mum Rosemary and my dad Ted. They know absolutely nothing about rugby but came to every single one of my internationals. They were wonderfully supportive, always frozen on the sidelines in the strange places we played international women’s games back then.
“The squad was told I was captain for the Six Nations campaign at the next training session but I’m pretty sure I shared the news with the likes of Karen Andrew, Georgia Stevens, Amy Garnett, and Susie Appleby.
“I played on the wing in that Six Nations as we were bringing young players through. I preferred 13, closer to the action with the challenge of defending in the thick of things. Wing isn’t the easiest as captain.
“We kept it really simple beforehand, made sure everyone knew where to be when, made sure the game plan and moves weren’t too complicated, made sure there was a relaxing atmosphere to allow the youngsters to thrive.
“It’s important that as captain you play your part 100%, that you lead by example. Nobody remembers a ten minute half-time talk, it’s about setting the right example, giving it your all, smiling, not looking worried or anxious.
“Mum, dad, my sister, my nephews were all there. I always got nervous, I learned that was just who I was, but as captain I was bursting with excitement and pride. It was pretty much the same feeling as my first cap. I always tried to find mum and dad in the crowd, grabbed the players either side of me but as captain that was just the one player next to me. I always bellowed out the anthem with my eyes closed and my face scrunched up.
“It wasn’t a close Test match in the end, those were anticipated against France and Ireland but we were on a roll. It’s always easy going back to the changing room when you’ve won and with quite a lot of new young players it was brilliant. But it was also fantastic to be with players like Susie and Karen who I’d played with for years, with Georgia, I think she and I made our debuts together."
England 30-0 Wales 17 March 2007 at Taffs Well
Sue played full back.
Working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday each week, Sue was back to captain Test matches on the Saturday “just like the boys when they were amateurs”. But driving to somewhere like Banbury for Tuesday night training before work the next day was far from beneficial.
“We’d beaten France 28-12 and Ireland 32-0 by now. Wales were on their way to becoming serious contenders but we were expected to win that day.
“At the last minute my roomie Charlotte Barras got ill and Macca (Vicky Macqueen) was called up. We’d been friends for years having competed for the 15 spot in a good natured way.
“Everyone was excited, the old ladies among us as much as the new players. You don’t get to play for a Grand Slam very often and certainly not as captain. You start your rugby career with no fear, then in the middle of it you feel the weight of expectation. Later, near the end you realise how rare, how amazing, those special occasions are and want to squeeze every last drop out, and make sure the rest of the team does as well.
“For the last ten or fifteen minutes on that Taffs Well pitch, we knew we had a pretty good lead. We were something like 25-0 up, and out there thinking ‘We’ve done it!’ By the time the whistle went we were ready to celebrate. We all had huge grins on our faces, it was brilliant to play a match like that.
“I think it was the first time we actually had a little Grand Slam banner for the pictures and one of the first times there were medals. We stayed out on the pitch for ages with our friends and families. I think it was Wales’ 20th anniversary match so the post-match dinner went on longer than usual.
“Then we went back to the hotel and really celebrated. Nobody wanted it to end. Somebody (probably Amy Garnett) dented the trophy around 4am. I probably knew it was my last win, although I hadn’t officially retired. The video analysis the next day was pretty painful. We had partied through the night, though I don’t think I made a total fool of myself!
“I learned that winning was about belief, that you can do all the physical training you like but if your mind isn’t in the right place you won’t win. When you are captain you know you must pass that on to the younger players.
“After we lost in the 2006 World Cup final a player said to me ‘We could have won that!’ and I thought that’s what you should have said before we kicked off. That belief is what matters and there are lots of crossovers between business and sport.
“Business can learn a lot from rugby in particular. A rugby team is made up of very different players with different strengths and skills which, melded together, makes a high performing unit. If you have the same kind of people with the same kind of skills, often the same ones as the leader, the captain, it all goes wrong.
“You need to find people’s different strengths and maximise them for a team to be the best it can be.”
Have what it takes to inspire the next generation of rugby talent? The Irwin Mitchell Mentoring Club will support a community of mentors to help age-grade players transition into the adult game.
