Three As and an A* at A Level at Ysgol Dewi Sant in St David’s, Pembrokeshire earned her the chance to study biomedical science at Manchester University, where she duly graduated with a first-class honours degree.
Next stop was a working career in the clinical trials industry. She spent 13 months at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust, almost two-and-a half years as a senior clinical trials data manager back at the University of Manchester and since June last year she had filled a similar post at the global Cmed Clinical Services.
But last month she had to tell her boss she was quitting her career to follow her dreams after being offered one of the 12 full time professional contracts by the WRU for Welsh women’s internationals. At 28, she felt she had just won the lottery!
“I knew from the start that if I was offered a contract I would take it. Yes, I’ve had to give up my job, but now I can concentrate full time on being a professional athlete – that’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” said Neumann.
“I was involved in setting up clinical trials in my old job. We were testing treatments for cancer, diabetes and lots of other diseases.
“It’s a big change moving from a 40 hour per week largely desk-based job to training full-time. I’m really enjoying the new challenge.”
At school she was two years ahead of another of the groundbreaking dozen, fellow Dewi Sant alumni Jasmine Joyce, but unlike Jaz, Lisa didn’t really take rugby seriously until much later. She is first to admit she didn’t commit to the sport until fairly recently.
“I would say I dabbled with rugby at school and university. I didn’t really believe I was any good or commit to a team until I was selected for the 2018 Six Nations after playing for the Scarlets in a Super Six competition. It was only really then that I took rugby more seriously, once I saw what being part of a performance environment was all about.”
After making her Wales debut against Scotland in 2018, Lisa joined Sale Sharks in 2020. She enjoyed a great Six Nations campaign individually last year and was named on the wing by Maggie Alphonsi in the Team of the Tournament.
Even so, getting offered a full-time contract was no gimmee and when she noticed she had had a call from Wales coach Ioan Cunningham the nerves began to flood through her body.
“I was at home at the time and when I saw it was a call from Ioan, I was very, very nervous. He offered me the contract over the phone and it was a bit of a shock,” she admitted.
“I didn’t really expect it, but I was over the moon.
“I now have time to work on skills like my kicking game and handling skills can always get better.
“The biggest thing for me based in Manchester, is that I can train, recover and be the best I can be in the build-up to the Six Nations and world cup.”
“When I started playing in the Premier15s I realised that had I committed earlier things might have been different for me. But now I can devote all my time to rugby and the contract will take the pressure off.
“It will relieve all the stress of trying to balance training with the demands of holding down a full-time job. Now I won’t have to worry about catching up on work hours.
“Given all the sacrifices that I’ve had to make along the way to get to this point, trying to be an international athlete as well as working, made the decision all the easier for me.”
“This is a big step in the right direction for the women’s game in Wales. Things won’t necessarily change overnight, but you only have to look at how England have improved since they went full-time.
“I’m sure we will start to see results from this move.”
