For any sport to be successful, they need to have stars to build around. Fortunately, when it comes to women’s rugby sevens, they found a new athlete to market, and that’s Welsh player Jasmine Joyce. After impressing people in Tokyo and Canada, Joyce is arguably the best women’s sevens player in the world right now.
After winning gold in Edmonton, she said, “We (Team Great Britain) have enjoyed every moment we’ve been here. I don’t know how many more chances I’ll get, so I’m enjoying it while I can.”
Indeed, she doesn’t know how many more chances she’ll get. That’s because she is returning to amateur status after 2021 and going back to balancing rugby and a full-time job.
It is going to be difficult imaging rugby sevens without Joyce after the summer she had. After scoring seven tries at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, she racked up 16 more tries over both Canada Sevens events in September. It is one of the best stretches of rugby I’ve seen, especially in person.
Jasmine Joyce could be a Full-Time Player Soon
However, with Wales Rugby Union (WRU) announcing that contracts will be offered to women for the first time, there is a chance Joyce stays on with the national team. The deal includes 10 professional full-time contracts, as well as 15 “retainer” contracts, all starting in January 2022 for the 12 months. It’s still unclear what the financials of these deals look like. Still, it gives women a chance to play rugby full-time in Wales.
Nevertheless, this is a fantastic opportunity for fans and supporters to stand up in support of women’s rugby. So one day, players like Joyce and others have the chance to play rugby full-time. But getting to see her perform in person is incredible, and I hope everyone reading this gets the chance to do so at some point.
With the sevens returning to Dubai these next two weekends, it’ll be one of the last chances to see Joyce in a sevens match for Great Britain. We’ll see if she can add to her collection of gold medals to round out 2021. Playing for pride and country, Joyce adding another gold would add to her historic season.