Key Facts
| Squad | Richmond |
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| Position | Centre/Full back |
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| Age | 28 |
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| Height | 1.7m (5'7") |
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| Weight | 63kg (9st 12lb) |
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| Caps | 25 |
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The rugby career of Claire Allan turned full circle with her return in 2009 to Richmond, the club where she took up the game at the age of 13. In the interim Claire played for Clifton for two seasons, Wasps for one campaign, Worcester for two and Saracens for three.
Initially educated at St Stephen’s Junior School and Orleans Park School, both in Twickenham, she gained a BTEC in Sport & Exercise Science at Loughborough University and is a police officer with the Metropolitan Police in Acton.
Claire has represented England at seven levels; U18, U19, U20, Academy, A, Sevens and seniors, for whom she has won 25 caps and scored 11 tries including a length-of-the field touchdown in the 46-8 Nations Cup win over South Africa at Appleby College, Ontario in August 2011. She also scored a try in the final against Canada.
Her overseas CV spans Sevens in Rome, Amsterdam, San Diego, Dubai, her favourite ground, Germany and China, where she helped England to finish as runners-up to New Zealand in the third World Series tournament at Guangzhou in March this year. She said: “My most positive memory is beating the Black Ferns in Amsterdam in 2008 with a downside of losing to Australia in the IRB World Cup Sevens in 2009.”
Simon Amor, the former England Sevens captain, is Claire’s role model and players she most admires are former All Blacks captain Tana Umaga and England squad mate and fellow Richmond back Alice Richardson. Claire said: “My favourite athlete as a kid was Michael Johnson, the USA 400-metres runner – gold spikes and all.”
Since starting in the No.10 shirt, Claire has expanded her horizons by switching to centre and full back but unluckily missed the 2010 WRWC after being injured in training and undergoing knee reconstruction.
Last updated: April 5, 2013
