Her retirement makes it two players from the Whitchurch area to have hung up their boots in as many days, what with yesterday’s news regarding Sam Warburton stunning the sports world. Tuttiett is proud of the fact that she is “Whitchurch born and bred,” as she puts it. “You know what they say about Cardiff people: we never leave.”
It was in this part of northern Cardiff that Tuttiett learnt the trade that serves her well today. Not rugby – since the sport wasn’t an option for her growing up, as she’ll later explain – but building.
“From as early as I can remember, I was a pretty hyper kid, so come the weekend my mum would send me off with my dad, Robert, a self-employed builder,” she explains. “He’d work all hours under the sun, so I’d just head off with him. He taught me bits and pieces over the years, which I didn’t think would be beneficial to me as a teenage girl.
“It was only when I came out of the education system that I realised the most valuable skills I had were the ones my dad taught me.”
She now runs her own successful building and interiors business, which whilst being a full-time job still affords her the ability to pursue other passions. “I’ve been slowly building up mentoring work – some working with gifted, intelligent children; others with kids from deprived backgrounds that just need a little support and some positive role models in their lives.”
So gratifying is this for Tuttiett that she recently set up a company called Performance and Lifestyle mentoring, supporting girls and boys across Wales who have aspirations in any sport. She has also enjoyed a sideline in TV and radio commentary of the women’s game.
Tuttiett amassed 26 caps as a centre for Wales Women, even captaining them during the 2014 Six Nations, but soon realised that sevens was what she wanted to specialise in. So experienced is the former Cardiff Blues and Bristol player that she was named captain of Team Wales for this year’s Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. It was a moment in her life that would produce hugely contrasting emotions.
“It was a complete and utter rollercoaster, and sevens is just that at the best of times anyway,” says the 34-year-old. A knee ligament injury in the build-up ruled her out of the entire tournament. “Team Wales felt that, as captain, I still had a valuable role to play out there, so I stayed in Australia. But then there were the little things like the shirt presentation, and having to keep a brave face for everyone else. Or when the team takes a left into the changing rooms and I take a right to the side of the field. I knew I’d have to deal with my own emotions later.”
Still, she summarises her time with Team Wales on the Gold Coast as “the greatest experience of my life”. As an amateur sportsperson, being in a multi-sport environment on the world stage had a profound effect on her. “You felt like a professional athlete. Those opportunities are few and far between, so we fully embraced it. Our job was rugby, our job was to perform.”
The knee injury she sustained was just part of the reason she felt compelled to retire. “As a rugby player, you carry niggles now and then and it’s a case of managing and evaluating them at the end of the season.” A second scan on the shoulder injury she’d been nursing revealed a tear which would require an operation.
“That was the final straw. My body’s giving me little hints, saying, ‘Come on now, you’ve had some good years.’” One of the things she’ll miss most is being part of a team. “There’s that element of selflessness, digging in for one another. And the banter – when it’s not directed at me, of course!”
Fourteen years in the Wales set-up means she has seen considerable changes in the women’s game. “I first got involved with the Welsh squad in 2004. Back then we were training down in Llanrumney, and it was probably one Sunday a month,” she reflects. “We were given one t-shirt, one waterproof and one pair of shorts, if you were lucky. The change has been massive, and the biggest change now is development.
“I only had the opportunity to play rugby once I got to Cardiff University, whereas now we’ve got kids in primary school or cluster clubs playing the game.” She’s seeing the improvements first-hand now, assisting Wales Women Sevens coach Jonathan Hooper with the U18s, who are competing in Birmingham this weekend.
“Once I found out about the shoulder op last week, I sat down with ‘Hoops’ and let him know that I was retiring, because the senior team is preparing for the Kazan leg of Rugby Europe.” She feels she can contribute a great deal to the development of the next generation of female players in Wales.
“I don’t want to waste the experience and knowledge I’ve acquired from my years in the game,” says Tuttiett.
