OC Gemma Rowland makes the headlines in The Sunday Times

Article from The Sunday Times 17th January 2015

The following is the article from The Sunday Times:

GEMMA ROWLAND has set her heart on helping the Wales women’s rugby team qualify for the 2017 World Cup and, when the 26-year-old army captain takes aim, she rarely misses the target.

Hers is a remarkable story of success, culminating in last year’s elevation into the Wales team, a debut victory over the world champions, England, and scooping the title of army sportswoman of 2015.

It was all a far cry from when she spent the 2013 Six Nations acting as a troop commander heading a team of 40 soldiers in Afghanistan. Her six-month tour was a success, everyone came back alive, and since returning to Larkhill, where she is a fire support team commander with 14 regiment royal artillery, her sporting story has gained momentum.

Ever since, she was little she always had twin ambitions — to join the army and to excel at sport. So far, so good on both counts.

Although born in Bristol, she was raised in Newport and qualified to play for Wales through her grandmother. Both of her grandfathers served in the forces, and she was marked out for a career in the military from a young age and won an bursary at 16 that eventually led to her heading to Sandhurst after graduating from Exeter University.

She says she has always been a driven individual, and has competed at the British Schools cross-country championships, played football for England universities, and in the hockey National Schools Championships since her first success in Irish dancing.

“I wanted to have a go at everything. I started on ballet, and didn’t get on with it, then I joined a dance class after school,” recalled Rowland.

“I did Irish dancing from seven until I was 12. I became a British champion both individually and in a group and then competed at the world championships in Belfast.

“It was all a bit of fun to begin with, but then it became more serious and competitive and my teacher wanted me to give up all sport to concentrate on dancing. I wasn’t having any of that.”

She hung up her dancing shoes and concentrated on hockey, athletics and, when she was at Colston’s Collegiate School, pestered the teachers to allow her to play rugby.

“They allowed us to join an after-school club to begin with, but after we had won the Rosslyn Park National Schools title two years in a row they established girls rugby as part of the sporting curriculum,” said Rowland, who will be one of Wales’ biggest threats in the championship with her powerful running in the centre.

“Three other members of that team are in the England squad, Katie Mason, Amber Reed and Laura Keates, and Katie and I played against each other on our international debuts when Wales beat England. It was an amazing occasion, our school coach, Ben Berry, a passionate Welshman, was at the game.”

There could well be a reunion when England host Wales at the Twickenham Stoop on 12 March. With three home fixtures, all at The Gnoll in Neath, against Scotland, France and Italy, this year’s campaign is all about qualifying for next year’s World Cup in Ireland. England, Ireland and France have automatically qualified, and the top two of the remaining teams over last season and this will join them.

“The win over England last year gave us a huge psychological boost and now we feel we are the team that everyone should look out for. Even though Ireland have done well in recent years, I don’t think one team in the tournament is firmly established as the strongest,” Rowland said.

“Our focus is to develop our skills into a style that is enjoyable for the fans to watch and for us to enjoy as a team. We want to play with flair and develop a brand of rugby that gets everyone saying ‘Wow, did you see what the Welsh girls are doing?’”

Wales kick-off against the reigning champions, Ireland, in Dublin on 6 February and have a warm-up game against them in Ystrad Mynach on Sunday. It sounds tough, but that’s the only way Rowland knows.

“What I’ve learned during my officer training, through leading my team in Afghan and playing team sports is that you have to put your faith not only in your ability, but also in what you’ve learned from your coaches,” she added.

“On patrol in Bastion I put my faith in what I had been taught to keep me and my men safe. Now the Welsh team has to believe in what we are doing and put into practice everything that we have been preparing for.”