The scrum-half only took up rugby just over three years ago, but not only did she feature in the first ever Women’s Summer Series match on Thursday in Parma, Italy, but after the match discovered she had received a first-class degree from university.
“I went straight to the changing rooms after the full-time whistle,” describes Singleton, 21, who studied Sports and PE through the medium of Welsh at Cardiff Metropolitan University. “I’d been thinking about getting my results all week, so I was eager to find out what I had. When it finally came through that it was a first, I cried with happiness.
“I think it was the fact that I’d managed to achieve that alongside all my rugby commitments, which has been tough. I’ve been in and out of the senior Wales squad too, and I’ve been doing teaching placements for my degree. I wasn’t expecting a first, but I knew I’d worked hard so I’m proud that I achieved it.”
So what took her so long to take up the sport at which she now excels, playing for Cardiff Met in the BUCS league and Brython Thunder in the Celtic Challenge? “I was a netball player at school, but my teacher told me I was too aggressive,” she laughs.
“I was fit because I was a netballer, and I was small. I’d pass the rugby ball with my brother and my dad who both played, and they said, ‘You should be a nine,’ so that’s where I ended up. Then I went to uni and that’s where my rugby picked up.”
It’s not like Singleton comes from a rugby not-spot though: her home village of Y Tymbl (Tumble, in English) in Carmarthenshire is synonymous with the likes of British and Irish Lions Robin McBryde and Dwayne Peel – the latter one of Wales’ most famous nines.
As fate would have it, Singleton isn’t the only person in her student digs featuring in the inaugural Women’s Summer Series, with housemate Nicole Marlow in the Scotland squad. Both are benefiting from an experience that has been devised to prepare the next generation of Test match players for what it takes to play elite senior rugby.
“I have played some senior sevens, playing in the heat and travelling, but sevens is different to fifteens,” she says. “In the Women’s Summer Series, we’ve got three games in ten days, so we’re learning about recovery and how to come back from a loss in the first game. It’s totally different.”
A first-class degree now in her pocket to go with first-class rugby experience with Wales U20; Singleton has options. “I’m hopefully going on to do my PGCE in September, which will be good,” she says. “Who knows where rugby will take me? I haven’t thought too much about the long term, but [having options is] nice: I love teaching, I enjoy being at uni, so I’ll always have that.”
Wales' next Women's Summer Series match will be against England on Tuesday 9th July. See the full fixture list here.
