Southwell celebrates debut of Women’s Rugby Team
SUNDAY 28th September was an historic event in the calendar for Southwell Rugby Club as their women’s team took to the pitch for their first ever fixture.
Playing to large crowds of spectators, the women did an incredible job of putting their hard work at training into practice and setting down their marker for what is to come!
Last November, a motley group of women came together for a training session in the cold and dark. Unsure of what they were signing up for, the women brought humour, enthusiasm and a willing ness to try something new. For some, they had never played a team sport before and they had definitely not played rugby. Fast forward, ten months and that motley group, swollen in numbers to a full match day 23, ran out into the sunshine to resounding cheers. Just getting to this point was a huge achievement.
From the starting whistle, the women put their hard work into practice and were soon showing that they were a future force to be reckoned with. The first hits went in, they regathered, reorganised and went again. Tries for the home team came through persistence and some big carries by the forwards with V Boal crossing for the first team try. Although the more seasoned opposition, East Retford, showed their experience, their tries often came against the run of play through a break away speedster on the wing!
The women kept their spirits high and continued to put in some massive tackles even as legs became tired. A second try, though the versatile fly half, Kate Long helped keep the scoreline respectable for the home team. The final score was 10-29 but the women came off the pitch with their heads held high to huge applause from family and friends. They are hoping to carry that momentum into their first fixture in the Inner Warrior Series (Women’s Development League) on 19th October at Lincoln.
We would like to thank our sponsors – Millward Construction, Bramley and White and Through the Glass Photography – we are proud to have female led businesses supporting our set up and continued development.
On a weekend where the Red Roses continued their world beating form, in a little corner of Nottinghamshire, another group of women offered up an inspirational team performance. If you are an experienced player, would like to come down and try rugby for the first time or feel like coming out of retirement, we would welcome you along. We train on a Tuesday evening at 7pm and you can contact Jo on 07867 871086 for more details.
