Staff Writer Emily Bunder sits down with King’s alumna and professional rugby player Liz Crake to discuss her career ahead of the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup.
Liz Crake is an English rugby international prop currently playing for West London side Trailfinders Women in England’s Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR). A centrally contracted Red Rose for the 2024-25 season, she has previously played for Wasps Women, captaining them between 2022 and 2023.
Roar: “Hi Liz. So, first of all, when did you study at KCL and what did you study?”
Liz: “I studied dentistry, which I believe I started in 2013. There’s not really a follow up to dentistry, it’s quite easy to know what you’re doing with it.”
R: “Any fond memories from your time at King’s? Did you stay in any accommodation?”
L: “We had quite a nice team in terms of the people in our year. In dentistry you have four different teams. They’ve probably changed the names now, I can’t remember what mine was called. The tutors were really nice and patients were always really lovely – bless them, coming to spend five hours at a dental school to have one filling. It was just a really nice atmosphere; it made you enjoy being a dentist and trying to help people. I stayed at the Great Dover Street apartments near Borough Market.”
R: “How did you get into rugby and did you ever play for the KCL women’s rugby team?”
L: “I started at school when I was around 14, and then I played for Saracens under-18s and joined the women’s [senior] team when I turned 18. At the time they had a two’s team, obviously ages and ages ago. And then I came to uni and I spent the first term playing for the main uni team [KCL Women’s Rugby].”
“But then the problem that I found was that when I got to uni, everyone was learning how to play. My goal and my ambition had always been to play for England and I was suddenly like, if I spend five years at uni just playing at uni level, I’m not going to get there. Because, realistically, I wasn’t going to improve that much because I was playing against people who didn’t know how to play. I remember there was one game where I just kept catching the ball in the kick off, and then running it in and scoring because no one knew how to tackle and things like that. So, by the end of term one, I went and joined Wasps Women and played a bit of both. I’d do games on a Wednesday and games on a Sunday.”
“And then I think there was one year where I also played for GKT, the medical team. What had happened was, because I was playing for a club side, I wasn’t always at training, and I wasn’t at every game. And then when it came around to Varsity, I don’t think we’d won in a long time, and the coach benched me! And I was obviously really gutted and really upset. I get it now, and I do understand it but obviously at the time I was very frustrated. Then the following year I went and played for the medical team, exclusively so that I could play against the non-medical team to like, get my revenge. It sounds silly now but at the time it was very important.”
R: “As a qualified dentist, how do you transfer these skills onto the pitch?”
L: “I mean I wouldn’t really say that there are any skills that are transferrable. You can go with a really cliché answer of teamwork and like, managing and dealing with people because you’re a part of a team, so that’s always a thing. I feel like I’ve got older now that I’ve stopped giving that: “Oh yeah, it’s really valuable being able to do both. I’m really glad I’m a dual career athlete” because you have this kind of rose-tinted version of what it is. But actually, I’ve grown out of giving that answer. I’d say if you’re really going to pick on skills, it’s teamwork and people management. In dentistry, you have to deal with people who aren’t always pleased to be there – maybe they don’t necessarily like you or they’re having a bad day. You get people like that in a team as well.”
R: “So, do you get people sending you pictures of their teeth?”
L: “Yes, all the time, all the time. It’s constant!” [both laughing]
R: “You joined Trailfinders Women last season, a team only formed in 2023. What was it like joining them in their first season?”
L: “It was exciting. For me, it was quite nice because there were a lot of players and coaching staff that had come from Wasps so it kind of felt like a home away from home. There were things I found quite difficult. Apparently, I don’t like change! So I still find it a bit weird, and it’s also a new environment so no one’s set up a leadership team – you don’t know the pecking order of things and everyone’s jostling to be that person. And I think I can find that quite frustrating. I just want to listen to one or two points, but when everyone’s speaking, you’re like: “what?”
“It’s just a weird environment until the first game has been played and then you know that – ‘okay, yeah, that’s going to be our captain, and that’s the person I need to listen to in defence’. And you don’t know how everyone plays. It’s hard to play with people to start off with because you don’t know how everyone plays. You don’t know, like, are they going to run a hard line more times than not? Or, how is their passing? Is it going to be really difficult for me to catch it? Are they really fast at passing? Or, do I need to stand closer to them? So, there’s a lot of things to try and learn.”
R: “What was it like getting called up to the England squad and getting your first cap?”
L: “Very cool! As I said, as soon as I started playing rugby that was the aim, and it’s sometimes it’s been a rollercoaster. It kind of feels like I’d be getting close, and then something would happen. The first time I got called in, I got called up to the academy, which was a bit like a B team in 2018, in my first year of work, so that was really cool. And I was like yeah, I can progress from here – then I broke my leg, or my ankle, and so I was out again.”
I then got called in just at the start of the COVID year when I had just transferred to front row, and I thought I could’ve had a really great opportunity there, but my work [as a dentist] was not very accommodating at all and it became really stressful. Unfortunately with dentistry, when you work in the NHS you have a contract where you have to provide a certain amount of NHS work to a certain value. If at the end of the year you haven’t met your target, you have to pay the practice back. So, at the time I was barely working because I wanted to progress in rugby, so I didn’t have any savings at all. At the end of the tax year I was getting called into camp, but I hadn’t hit my target, so I was like: “are they going to make me pay thousands of pounds when I don’t have thousands of pounds to pay them?”.
“It became very stressful, and in the end I had to say no, I can’t go into camp, I can’t get out of work, and then I lost that opportunity. Then it was another two years before I got called back in. So, it’s a very exciting opportunity, and it’s obviously very stressful, but the whole time you’re just trying to think: “This is what I’ve wanted my entire life” and you’re trying to take it all in while also trying not to freak out entirely.”
R: “You mentioned that you transferred over to front row. How many positions have you actually played on the field?”
L: “I’ve played quite a lot. When I was younger, I used to play [fly-half], funnily enough. Not because I was any good, but because we just didn’t have enough to make a full team. I’d always been kind of a back row, but they had to put me somewhere else. So, then I was a back row for a long time.”
“Then it was COVID year, when they changed all the scrum laws, and [Giselle Mather], my old coach, said: “I think we’ve got a way to get you into England if you play in the front row.”. Because during COVID there were barely any scrums, so she was like: “Let’s get as many back row on the field as possible.” We had loads of people who were back row but playing front row, and then it kind of went from there. I’ve played second row before as well. I’ve played every position in the [forward] pack, plus [fly-half] as well. And I’ve been on the wing like once, when I was a kid.”
R: “Do you enjoy playing in the front row now?”
L: “Yeah! It’s a weird position because some days you can feel really good and be like: “You know what, I’m the best!”. And then some days you get absolutely annihilated and you’re like: “You know what, this is the worst.”. It’s a really rollercoaster position. I think it’s fun because I always say that one of the things I love about myself is that I’m really strong and really competitive, so for me, if I’m in the front row, it’s the one position on the field where it truly is one on one. In a scrum, you don’t have a ten-metre run up where you could potentially step someone. You get together, and then it’s about who’s stronger or technically better at the end of the day. I do like that aspect. But when there’s like 20 scrums in a game, you’re like: “Actually, I don’t love this anymore” so it’s funny.”
R: “Do you have a proudest moment in your rugby career?”
L: “Well, it’ll be getting my first cap. As I said, everything I’d been doing had been trying to lead to this point. I had a few ups and downs, disappointments and selection decisions that didn’t go my way. Even now, it’s a weird one because I’ve not played for England in probably two years, and even at the time I got called in, I played two games, and then their contracted players who were back from injury were back, so I wasn’t needed anymore. I’m very proud of it but at the same time, I feel like it’s not done. I find it difficult to feel like I’ve earned it yet; obviously I want to get capped more and really feel like I’ve crushed it and done really well.”
“Other than that, our last season at Wasps, I was the captain, and that’s the same year I got my first cap as well. So that’s probably overall my proudest season.”
R: “What was that first England game like?”
L: “I was on the bench and I came on maybe 30 minutes in. But the first thing I had to do was scrum, and it was actually quite a good scrum, which was nice. So, it was cool, and it was Sarah Hunter’s last game as well so the atmosphere was really good and it was nice to be a part of that.”
R: “As a female rugby player, what is the biggest challenge you face?”
L: “I think for me personally it’s weight and body composition and how you present externally. Even though I look at photos – you know when you look back on when you’re younger and you’re actually really tiny but at the time you felt huge because everyone else was even tinier than you. I’ve always been a bigger, stronger girl and then you come into rugby and that’s applauded and a benefit. But even moving from back row to front row, my body weight difference now from when I was playing back row is potentially 15, 20 kilos extra that I’ve had to gain. I haven’t tried to mostly gain weight but with the training and things like that, it’s just happened. I do find that quite tricky because everyone wants to be super slim or toned or athletic, those kinds of things, and my body just can’t be like that, I have to be big. It’s tricky trying to dress: I like to dress nicely and to feel good about myself. But some days, I’m just like: “You know what, it’s okay!”. As I said, that’s my job. My job is to be big and strong and for the most part, it’s okay.”
“But it is quite a difficult balance of trying to eat well, but I’ve got to eat more. It’s a very difficult mental struggle to be able to try and consume as much as you’re supposed to. I always say that – and I still struggle with it every time the season ends – the first thing I want to do is drop ten kilos, and I never really do because I’m not that committed to losing weight. But it’s always there, it’s always: “Oh, I have to weigh myself and see where I’m at.”.
“Luckily with being contracted we have to do a DEXA scan, which tells you your body fat composition and muscle percentage and stuff like that. I was a bit worried that it was going to be a bit triggering but I actually found it really helpful. It showed just how much muscle I had in comparison. In my position, they were actually really positive about my DEXA scan so I felt a bit better. So, for me personally, it would be that. Otherwise, you’ve got things like the funding in the sport and the representation and coverage. But I think on a personal level it would be body weight.”
R: “What do you hope to see in the future of women’s rugby?”
L: “I think just the trajectory in terms of more coverage, more funding. It’s mental for me that now, it’s not just the England players who are full time. There are girls coming through now, and it blows my mind that this is their career. They’re going to come and play at a Premiership club and get paid enough to live on for however long they want their career to be. I’m obviously coming relatively to the end of my career, depressingly, and obviously I have my dentist career to fall back on. But it just blows my mind that there are these girls that are not going to have to do that. They’re not going to be coming in from a six-hour shift at work, going straight into the gym, straight into training and coming home at 10pm, 11pm. Even here [Ealing Trailfinders Men], they train during the day, and once they’re done, they’ve got the rest of the day to chill out. So, I think it would be nice if in a few years’ time, suddenly that’s everyone’s full time job. They’d come in during the day and then they’ve got the rest of the evening to chill and relax, rather than it being a late-night thing. I think it’s just mental in my career that so much has changed. The first time I got paid, it was £50 a game, and I was so grateful. [Giselle Mather] said to me: “I’m sorry it’s not much” and I was like: “Giselle, no one’s ever paid me to play rugby before this is insane”. So, I think that the growth there is really cool.”
R: “What advice would you give to young girls who want to pursue rugby?”
L: “I think I would say not to give up. If it’s something that you truly want to have and it’s your kind of North Star, you’ve got to keep that and not be disheartened because it is going to be, like I said, a roller coaster. Especially with a sport like rugby. You’re going to get injured at some points and it can feel like everything else is kind of crashing down. Every time I got injured, I was so devastated by it because I was like: “I’m never going to get to England now”. So, for me it would be persistence and resilience, in that you’ve got to keep that in your mind’s eye and keep attacking it and every time you go on the field, that’s what you’re aiming for and that’s what you need to be showing. Just keep going! Don’t get disheartened.”
R: “Amazing advice Liz! Thank you so much for speaking with me!”
