Who is Zoe Aldcroft: Ten things you should know about the England lock

Glouester-Hartpury’s Zoe Aldcroft, who can play in the second and back rows, has become a mainstay in the England squad since the 2017 Rugby World Cup.

Ten things you should know about Zoe Aldcroft

1. Zoe Aldcroft was born on 19 November 1996 in Scarborough, England. She stands at 5ft 11in (1.82m) and weighs 13st 5lb (85kg).

2. She joined Premier 15s club Gloucester-Hartpury in 2017 and had previously played for DMP Durham Sharks.

3. She won her first cap for England against France in 2016, where she scored the winning try.

She was subsequently offered a full-time contract in 2019 and was named 2020 Rugby Players’ Association Telegraph Women’s Sport England Player of the Year.

4. Post-rugby she’s interesting in a career in feet. In a Rugby World interview she said she would like to become “a foot health practitioner. A lot of people have manky feet, so I’d like the fact that I would be trying to make them nicer!”

5. She has said she didn’t have role models in rugby growing up. She told the Yorkshire Post: “When I was playing at Scarborough (her first club) I didn’t really have any ambition to play for England and didn’t even think there was a women’s team to be honest.”

6. Aldcroft packs a knitted Jonny Wilkinson doll in her kit bag for every match. She says: “My friend’s gran knitted it for me – he’s in Toulon kit – and it comes in my bag to every game.”

7. Aldcroft was part of England’s record 43-12 victory over New Zealand in the autumn of 2021 and she said the win changed the way they view their rivals.

She told the BBC: “It has made us think we can actually beat the Black Ferns. The thought of them can get into your head a bit before you even play them so psychologically I think it has helped.”

8. Aldcroft has a degree in sport and exercise science, started at Northumbria University and finished at Hartpury College.

9. She grew up doing multiple sports – netball, cricket, rowing, athletics as well as rugby – and was a keen dancer too.

10. Aldcroft lives with her boyfriend, Luke, and the couple have a dog, Luna.

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