From her firefighting career to the martial art she's a black belt in
Who is Jade Konkel: Ten things you should know about the Scotland back-row
Jade Konkel is known for her power in getting over the gain-line, which makes her an integral player for club and country.
Ten things you should know about Jade Konkel
1. Jade Konkel was born on 9 December 1993 in Inverness, Scotland. She stands at 5ft 9in (1.75m) and weighs 13st 1lb (83kg).
2. Konkel joined Allianz Premier 15s club Harlequins in 2018 having previously played for Lille in France and Hillhead-Jordanhill in Scotland.
3. She won her first Scotland cap in 2013 against England in the Six Nations.
4. Konkel is open about her sexuality and champions LGBTQ+ rights, sharing her coming out story with Harlequins for their pride match in 2020.
5. Her preferred position is in the back row but she did have a short spell playing at prop for Scotland.
6. Konkel has named Donna Kennedy, who was the first Scottish player to reach 100 caps, as her rugby hero.
7. She represented Scotland in athletics for the army cadets.
8. She and her partner Helen unknowingly planned to propose to each other on the same day in 2019. Konkel told NewsChain: “I couldn’t believe it, my first words were stop it! I didn’t say yes straight away, I said stop it!
“She used to tell me that she would never propose and it just so happened we did it on the same day. There’s not relevance to that day either we just knew we were coming into a busy Six Nations period where I’d be away a lot over the next few months.”
And she added: “We both did it very similarly as well. I put post-it notes around the house so I did it through post-it notes and she had written a massive memory letter, which was really nice.It was super romantic.”
9. Before every match, she writes ‘ETT’, which stands for Empty The Tank, on tape on her wrists.
10. Outside of rugby, Konkel is a firefighter having taken a break from rugby in 2021 to complete her training. She also has a black belt in martial art Goshin-Ryu Kempo.
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