Born in Exeter, Tamara lived in central Africa until 7 years old with her parents and older brother.
On the family’s return to England, Tamara spent 5 years at a coeducational school as the only girl in her year, following in her mother’s and brother’s footsteps in her love for sport.
At 15 she started playing rugby and went on to be selected into an England Student team aged 17. Tamara continued to represent in England Academy and A league fixtures alongside her degree at Newcastle University, and captained GB students rugby league team in a tour to Russia in 2003.
In 2005 Tamara gained her first cap for England against New Zealand. She represented the Red Roses for 13 years while working full time as a community coach, club coach and coach developer, playing in 4 European championships, eleven 6 Nations championships, and 4 World Cup finals, winning gold in 2014.
Tamara finished her International career in 2018 amassing 115 caps, becoming one of the highest capped players for England. After ankle reconstruction she continued to play at Premiership level for a further 4 years at DMP and Saracens as a player coach. Tamara has coached Sweden women’s XV for four years and recently was assistant coach with the Scotland Women’s U20 team in the U20 Six Nations Championship 2025.
In 2019 Tamara embarked on a Charity Challenge with Wooden Spoon, a charity for disabled and disadvantaged children, hiking up to 6500m above sea-level on Mt Everest to try to break two world records for the highest games of rugby in the world. Other charity events include attempted summits of Mount Bhue, and Mont Blanc, and cycling challenges from Twickenham to Paris in aid of the Bhubesi Pride Foundation. As an ambassador for Wooden Spoon and Looseheadz charities, Tamara took on another World Record attempt in July 2025, attempting to play in the Longest game of rugby in Dublin, playing for 26 hours.
Tamara has spoken at a number of events from schools to businesses, after dinner speeches to conferences. With a wide variety of experiences on and off the rugby pitch, Tamara is comfortable sharing her experiences with others to make a lasting impact.
A woman in a man’s world (as a rugby player, coach, and coach educator, Tamara has spent most of her professional career as one of the only women in the room.)
As part of the World Cup winning team in 2014, Tamara has experienced success at the highest level, explaining what it took to beat the World’s best and bring home the gold.
From returning to International sport from injury and illness, to taking on World Records, Tamara has taken on challenges head on.
