When Jade Shekells was summoned to a meeting by Great Britain women’s sevens head coach Giselle Mather earlier this year, she thought she was in trouble.
Shekells and her GB 7s teammates were in camp, preparing for the HSBC SVNS leg in Vancouver but what Mather had to tell her would change the trajectory of her season and potentially, the rest of her career.
The 28-year-old had not done anything wrong. Far from it, her performances on the circuit had alerted John Mitchell and his England coaching staff to her ability. The Red Roses boss wanted to take a closer look.
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“Giselle pulled me from gym and I was like, ‘Oh god, this never happens’. I was thinking, ‘Oh Jade, what have you done?’,” Shekells admits to RugbyPass.
“And then she was getting Ciaran [Beattie, GB 7s director of rugby] and they were taking me into a small room, and I was racking my brain, like what have I done here?
“And then she just said, ‘Mitch is interested and wants you to be involved’. I was like, ‘Oh, like invite me into camp? That’s so nice’, and they were kind of like, no, a bit more like, go in and have a good stint, if that makes sense, a couple of weeks and try and just see what happens and give it a good crack.
“Obviously, then loads of emotions came up, like excitement but I was also kind of blindsided. I had no idea at all.
“But obviously it’s so nice to hear that someone… well that the Red Roses are interested in you and it’s such a nice feeling. I was just a bit taken back because I wasn’t expecting it at all, but super grateful.”
Shekells weighed up the offer with sevens teammate Isla Norman-Bell as well as her partner and mum, but there was only ever going to be one outcome.
Even in that initial chat with Mather there was an acceptance this was an opportunity the centre needed to explore.
“There was a decision to make and that came with a lot of emotions. I think I’ve kind of suppressed them and actually they came to the surface not long ago when I had another call with Hayts [Charlie Hayter, RFU head of women’s performance].
“I love the sevens girls, and I can truly be myself there,” Shekells says.
“But I think the opportunity that I have at the moment, especially this year and what we’re going into and what Mitch has spoken to me about, it’s just an opportunity that I don’t think many people would really give up.
“I think that’s the biggest thing isn’t it? I thought about the girls and stuff like that, the sevens and stuff, but ultimately, I think everyone was just like, it’s a no-brainer. Of course, you have to give it a go and see what happens.
“Ultimately, even when Giselle was speaking to me, she was kind of already telling me, ‘We’ve got this, da da da’, like kind of putting things in place as though it’s already happened, if that makes sense, which again was quite nice to know that I have their blessing essentially.”
Prior to departing for Vancouver, Shekells chatted with Mitchell, first over the phone and then in person, to get an understanding of what would be expected of her.
Given she had been focused on sevens as a contracted player with Great Britain and had – by her own admission – only a casual agreement with Gloucester-Hartpury to play Premiership Women’s Rugby, her inclusion was something of a surprise.
But Mitchell has been very open about what attracted him to her game, highlighting Shekells’ physicality and his desire to give his midfield a steely edge.
“I got a little bit more of an insight into what was going on in his head and I was like, ‘Oh OK, I kind of understand now a little bit’,” Shekells explains.
“He’s very open, which is really nice because sometimes when you get invited into stuff, you’re like, ‘Oh god, I don’t want to mess up’ but he’s been so good to just install confidence and say, ‘This is what I’m looking for, and I think you’ve got it, so actually just go and show that. You don’t need to show anything else’.”
Shekells acknowledges physicality is her “super strength” and she will be able to showcase it from the off at Welford Road on Saturday as she prepares to start a Test for the first time.
As someone who played at Paris 2024 in front of record crowds, she is no stranger to the big occasion. Yet, there were nerves ahead of her England debut, as a replacement against Italy in York last month.
Prior to devoting herself to sevens, Shekells had been a promising 15s player, good enough to be named Worcester Warriors Player of the Year in 2021.
But she thought the opportunity to become a Red Rose had passed her by. “I did think it was probably done for me, I am getting on a little bit,” the 28-year-old says. “That’s what makes it a little bit extra special.”
Walking into 15s camp for the first time, Shekells was greeted by a number of familiar faces, Meg Jones and Ellie Kildunne from sevens, Tatyana Heard and Sarah Bern from her time at Hartpury College.
However, the size of the Red Roses operation took her by surprise. “Those girls are all lush and I know them, so it does put you at ease a bit,” she says.
“But it was a bit like first day-at-school vibes for sure. You don’t know what you’re walking into and there’s also so many people.
“The first day I came in it was just meetings and I remember sitting in a room and I was like, ‘Oh my god, all of these people’. So, it was a bit daunting obviously and you want to do your best don’t you to show why you’re here.
“You don’t want to bring anyone down or think that you don’t deserve it so loads of emotions. Nerves, all of that but I think they’re still there a little bit, but [have] slowly started to dissolve because it’s a nice environment, everyone is nice, the coaches and the girls, everyone is lovely.”
The other shock, coming from a sevens environment, was the size of the playbook. “So much information,” Shekells says. “I’m constantly asking questions!”
It is understandable therefore, that when the signal came to get warm against Italy at the LNER Community Stadium, a range of emotions flooded through her system.
“When Ethan [Kinney] gave me the four-minute countdown or whatever it was, then the nerves definitely set in,” she admits.
“I think it’s nice to come off the bench, you get to see the game and get a feel for it and relax into it. But then when I got told to take my jacket or bib off, there was like a rush of nerves.
“But I think that’s just part of the game, isn’t it? As long as you can use it, it’s not all bad. I feel like it kind of just went by and then I was at the end with my family, which was really nice because then you could kind of breath. I survived!”
Shekells did more than survive but the task now facing her is to prove to Mitchell and the rest of the England backroom team that she deserves a place in the squad for this year’s home World Cup.
It will not be easy, given the abundance of quality available for England at centre. Tatyana Heard, Meg Jones, Emily Scarratt, Helena Rowland and Holly Aitchison have all spent time there during this championship.
Heard and Jones are likely to be the first-choice partnership while Aitchison will probably be included as a fly-half and Rowland as a backline Swiss Army knife.
That could pit Shekells in direct competition with Scarratt – a World Cup winner with 117 caps to her name – for a seat on the bus to Sunderland.
“For me at the moment, I still think I’m just learning and growing, so it’s not too daunting,” Shekells says. “I don’t have expectations.
“I’m very grateful to be here and learn. The depth of the backline is ridiculous, I’ve got so much I just want to learn from all of them.”
If that sounds like false modesty, it isn’t. Back in February, Shekells was focused on helping to maintain Great Britain’s place in the SVNS top eight.
Now she is preparing to make her full Test debut, could soon become a Six Nations winner and has a potential World Cup spot dangling in front of her.
“I didn’t even expect to be here two months ago,” she says. “So, for me, I just want to be here and enjoy each moment, keep my feet on the ground, and keep working hard.”
