Christine Belisle

Christine Belisle (born 4 November 1993) is a Canadian born Scottish rugby player from Ontario who has played in multiple Women's Six Nations Championships for Scotland, since obtaining residency in 2015, including the 2021 Women's Six Nations Championship.[1]

Christine Belisle
Date of birth (1993-11-04) 4 November 1993
Place of birthPeterborough, Ontario, Canada
Height1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight84 kg (185 lb; 13 st 3 lb)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Tighthead prop
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2016-2020 Cartha Queens Park ()
2021-present Loughborough Lightning ()
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2019–present Scotland 21 (5)

Club career

In Canada, Belisle played for local club side Peterborough Pagans before going travelling took her to Scotland in 2015.[2]

After relocating to Glasgow, she began playing rugby again in 2016 for a local club Cartha Queens Park.[3] In her first seasons there, she mostly played in position eight for the club.[4] It was the club coach who spotted her international potential and sent her for national tryouts.[5] She moved from the Scottish Premiership to the Allianz English Premiership in 2021, playing tighthead for Loughborough Lightning.

International career

Belisle's coach suggested to national coach Shade Monro that she should be considered to play for the Scotland in 2018 when she became eligible to represent the country.[6] She was selected via the Scottish Qualification Programme. However, injury prevented her from training with the squad properly until 2019.[7]

She was selected in 2019 to be part of the squad in position eight travelling to South Africa and received her first cap in the first Test match of the tour under supervision of coach Philip Doyle.[8]

In early 2020 she was selected as a replacement for an away game against Spain in which the Scots won 36-12.[9]

Having played internationally in the back-row/second-row several times, for the 2020 Women's Six Nations Championship she joined the combative front-row in tighthead prop in a match against France played in October 2020. During the match she came off the bench and won a scrum penalty in her new position.[10]

In the 2021 Women's Six Nations Championship she continued to play in front-row tighthead prop position in jersey number three, with her first start in the position in Scotland's opening match against England.[11] In the team's victory against Wales in their closing match of the championship she scored before the break to give the hosts a 17-6 lead.[12]

Personal life

Canadian-born Belisle focused on figure skating and synchronised skating until she discovered her talent for rugby at the age of 15 at Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School in Peterborough, Ontario. She then played under the guidance of coach Craig Harris all through the rest of her schooling.[13]

She says of the transition to the sport, “I soon found out that there is no community quite like a rugby community – I was tall and had an athletic build and suddenly I had found a place where I could use my strength and it just seemed the perfect fit for me."[14]

Following her High School graduation, she played one more season with her squad before going travelling in Canada and in Europe. Falling in love with Glasgow, she decided to move to the city in 2015.[15]

Belisle is a qualified personal trainer and runs her own business called the Strong Friends Club, which focuses on celebrating strength over physique.[16]

References
  1. "Christine Belisle". Scottish Rugby Union. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
  2. "Christine has a front-row seat for the Women's Six Nations with Scotland – and she is loving it! – GH Media". Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  3. "StackPath". www.carthaqp.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  4. "StackPath". www.carthaqp.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
  5. "Christine Belisle – GH Media". Retrieved 2021-05-31.
  6. Christine Belisle | Powering Conversation with SP Energy Network, retrieved 2021-05-30
  7. "Christine Belisle – GH Media". Retrieved 2021-05-31.
  8. "Three uncapped players in Scotland squad". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  9. "Scotland Women score six tries in Spain". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  10. "Christine has a front-row seat for the Women's Six Nations with Scotland – and she is loving it! – GH Media". Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  11. McVeigh, Niall (2021-04-03). "England 52-10 Scotland: Women's Six Nations – as it happened". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  12. "Scotland Women's Six Nations Squad 2021 - Scotland 27-20 Wales". Rugby World. 2021-04-24. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  13. Christine Belisle | Powering Conversation with SP Energy Network, retrieved 2021-05-30
  14. "Christine has a front-row seat for the Women's Six Nations with Scotland – and she is loving it! – GH Media". Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  15. "Peterborough's Christine Belisle playing on Scotland's national women's rugby team". thepeterboroughexaminer.com. 2021-04-26. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
  16. Christine Belisle | Powering Conversation with SP Energy Network, retrieved 2021-05-30
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