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Gwalia Lightning's shining star Courtney Greenway: One of the busiest players around?
By Gary Heatly
As a PE teacher at St Martin’s Comprehensive School in Caerphilly, Courtney Greenway can often be found helping others learn.
And in recent years she has also been doing a lot of learning herself rugby-wise within a number of different environments which has helped her to become one of the most exciting talents in Welsh women’s rugby at the minute.
The 26-year-old is one of the busiest players around as 2026 gets going, balancing a teaching job which she loves with Senghenydd Sirens, Gwalia Lightning and GB Sevens rugby commitments.
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So far, the 2025/26 season to date has been an amazing one for Greenway.
In terms of XVs, she has played for club side Senghenydd Sirens alongside former Welsh international Rhian Bowden and hit the ground running in the Celtic Challenge with five tries in four rounds including one versus the Clovers, a hat-trick at Scotstoun in a player of the match performance against Glasgow Warriors and one against Edinburgh Rugby.
She also popped into the wider Wales camp last week to touch base with the coaches and other players- an international career surely waiting in the wings, and the winger says she would not have it any other way.
“There is no doubt I am busy just now, but I am loving it,” says the winger who scored her fifth Gwalia try of the Celtic Challenge campaign at the weekend.
“With me having such a busy schedule, having a structure, planning ahead and being disciplined with my time are definitely key.
“I’m so lucky to have such a good employer who understands and supports my rugby commitments. They want me to chase my goals and they’ve made it so much easier for me to be able to go away to training camps or go and play on the HSBC SVNS Championship circuit or head off for long weekends in Scotland or Ireland with Gwalia.
“I also think my rugby experiences bring extra value to my teaching as, after all, it’s not every day that you get to go and play sevens for GB around the globe and play against some of the best athletes in the world.
“Being around that high calibre of athlete and watching how they go about things allows me to pass on some of those tips to the pupils at school in terms of how to deal with certain situations that they may come across.
“It can still be strange one morning being in a hotel breakfast area eating with GB Sevens and the other squads before a day of competition and then, just a few mornings later, be back at school taking the register, but I love the blend that is in my life at the moment.
“Sure, it can be demanding at times, but my teaching helps my rugby and vice versa and I think dipping in and out from different environments and challenges keeps me grounded and focused.”
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Sevens-wise, over the summer heading into this season Greenway played for Shogun Sevens and that led to selection for the LIT UK Sevens squad that went to Fiji in September to play a high-level event against the hosts, Australia and New Zealand.
“That trip was amazing,” states Greenway. “Fiji was a brilliant place to visit and in terms of rugby it was so good to be able to test myself at that level.
“Off the back of that trip I was then nominated by the Welsh Rugby Union to be put forward for GB Sevens and then I attended a camp with them.
“When I was selected for the first two legs of the HSBC SVNS Championship which were in Dubai in Cape Town before Christmas I was shocked, but super excited. We had some tough matches and experiences in those two events, but we are a new, young squad and we took so many learnings from those legs.
“Whoever is selected during the rest of the series will be able to build on those learnings and I really have confidence that the squad can continue to grow and grow. Sevens is good for so many things, there is no hiding place so your skills have to be on point.
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“And playing sevens at a high level recently has instantly helped my XVs game because as a winger I know feel confident to go looking for the ball more and my communication around the pitch is improving.”
Greenway first played rugby for a spell when she was in junior school. She then took the game up properly when she was 15 when her friends were getting together to form a girls’ team at Deri RFC in the village of Deri.
“I remember that my friends were nagging and nagging me to get back into rugby,” Greenway recounts. “At the time I was playing a lot of netball, but eventually I was like ‘oh, all right then’ and I gave in!
“Looking back, it was one of the best decisions I ever made because I was immediately hooked. I was drawn to the values of rugby and the family-friendly environment and I haven’t looked back since.”
As Greenway continues to spin a number of plates, the icing on any cake would be a full Wales XVs cap.
“It’s always great to represent your country and it would be special,” she concluded. “I think it’s always something any athlete would be working towards and striving for in the back of their mind.
“But I’m happy taking every day as it’s comes and playing for whoever I can to push on and be the best player I can be.
“I never look too far ahead – I don’t have the time to! – and staying present helps me on and off the pitch.”
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