Goodbye Bird: A Tribute to Liza Burgess

26 July 2007, 10:10 am

Liza Burgess played her very last international for Wales Women against England Women at Taffs Well on the last day of the 2007 RBS Women's Six Nations competition. The match celebrated twenty years of Wales Women internationals and, with some poignancy, allowed Burgess to finish her international career where it began - against England Women - having been the first Wales Women Captain back in 1987.

Video Special: Goodbye Bird: Watch Now

There was no dream end to her incredible career as she brought down the curtain on a twenty year stint in the Welsh side at Taffs Well, Wales Women fell 0–30 to England Women. However, the 42-year-old second row applied a business-as-usual approach to the match and packed down against England in the twentieth anniversary match between the two countries, just as she had done in the original fixture two decades ago.

An evening of celebration took place afterwards on the evening of Saturday March 17th 2007 in recognition of twenty years of Wales Women’s international rugby. Ten other members from the first team were amongst the special guests joining Liza Burgess, who announced her international retirement from the game after the dinner.

Carol Isherwood OBE, the Director of Rugby for the Rugby Football Union for Women, made a moving speech on the evening and recounted some special memories of women’s rugby over the last twenty years. Isherwood, who captained England in 1987 and has subsequently received an OBE for services to women's rugby, spoke of the development of the game over the twenty years and afterwards posed for a special picture with Burgess emulating the picture of the two of them that had been taken twenty years previously.

The evening ended with a special presentation of honours caps to the eleven members of the original team of 1987 and fittingly, Liza Burgess made the presentation of the caps to her fellow teammates from that day.

Burgess said, “This evening has proved very emotional as it’s the first time we’ve all been together for a long long time. It’s also the first time we’ve been awarded caps for international duty, which is a fitting way to mark my retirement from international rugby. It’s definitely an evening I’ll treasure for a very long time.”

Throughout the matchday colleagues, teammates and members of the WWRU staff paid tribute to Liza Burgess, a montage of which is available to watch here.

Liza Burgess 'aka Bird'

Born: 24th Mar 1964
Position: Second Row
International Debut: England 1978
Caps: 87
Club: Clifton

Author: WRU