Scottish age-grade international Coreen Grant is on course for a return trip to Twickenham next month after forging a strong midfield partnership with Saracens club mate Bluebell Nicholls for the Cambridge Women’s team.
The dynamic duo were at the heart of another commanding performance for the Light Blues this week as they added a cutting edge to the attack in a 67-10 home win over Sussex University in BUCS Premiership South. It was a win that moved Fiona Shuttleworth’s side to within a point of table-topping Cardiff University.
Having already beaten arch-rivals Oxford in a league fixture, Cambridge will have another massive challenge before heading to Twickenham for the fifth Varsity Match to be held at the home of English rugby when they go to Cardiff next week for a top of the table clash with the thus far unbeaten Welsh university.
Grant’s experience of the big stage could well come in handy on Thursday, 12 December, although she will be hoping for a better result than her other visit Twickenham earlier this year. That was with Durham University in the final of the BUCS Championship final, when Exeter University came away with the trophy.
Grant arrived at Cambridge to study a masters degree within the English department and has been juggling her big academic work load with playing for the Cambridge and the Saracens development team. She is a busy girl.
“Everyone in the university rugby set-up understands that the academic work comes first. It can be busy sometimes, especially as you don’t get Wednesday afternoons off for sport at Cambridge, but I make it work,” the 21-year-old Grant explained to the Talking Rugby Union website.
“I travel to Saracens training with Bluebell and it’s good for me to be in both environments because I’m learning from lots of different coaches and players. I enjoy being busy and I enjoy pushing myself to improve as a player.
“I’d love to be involved in the Varsity Mat, it has such a great history, and I’m just keeping my head down and working hard to give myself the best chance of making the squad.”
Edinburgh-born Grant first picked up a rugby ball when she was 11, but also dabbled in American Football when she spent three years in her early teens living in Los Angeles. The padding and helmet weren’t for her and she got back into rugby when she returned to Scotland at the Royal High.
She joined the Murrayfield Wanderers club and the rest, as they say, is history. She won Under 18 caps for Scotland, played in a Cup final at Murrayfield and went on to became captain of rugby at Durham University.
Now Twickenham is in her sights, along with the chance to atone for the disappointment she experienced on her first visit this year.
