A MASTERS student from the University of Chester has scored two impressive tries in rugby league.

Lifelong rugby fan Emma Edwards has been appointed full-time head of performance analysis for Warrington Wolves – becoming the only female performance analyst in Super League.

And the 35-year-old, who is also tackling an MSc in sports science at Chester, has now become the only performance analyst to work with the national team.

Emma joined the university as a sport and exercise sciences undergraduate in 2006.

She gained an internship at Warrington Wolves during her second year and in a short time progressed from scholarship to academy analyst.

“It is entirely down to the university that I got the internship with Warrington Wolves, which in turn has given me this amazing opportunity to work with the England squad,” said Emma.

As performance analyst, Emma is responsible for developing systems and using them to undertake technical and tactical evaluation, the results of which are fed back to coaching staff and players.

She conducts live and post-event analysis of training and matches.

“Essentially it’s coaching with IT,” she explained. “I work with all teams from the under-14s to first grade.

“The disparity in playing experience means that each team has quite different needs, and therefore different levels of analysis.

“A lot of the work I do is player-centred.

“For example, if a player thinks they have got a weakness I will review their performances, let them know whether this is the case and, where necessary, advise them about what they can do to improve this.”