Meet the RFUW

On Tuesday 21 Oct Amanda Bate, who is currently the WRDM (Womens Rugby Development Manager) for East & SE Regions is hosting a meeting at Lakenham & Hewitt RUFC.

She is looking to meet with representatives for the girls and womens game in the region and cover a number of aspects of the game together with getting our / your thoughts on things.

Sadly Amanda is leaving the RFUW shortly so this might be the first and last chance you get to put your thoughts to her in this role. However I am sure she will be passing everything on to those back at Twickenham and to whoever replaces her.

Amanda is leaving to set up a new venture which will help clubs identify and unlock funding and as a club we have already booked a meeting with her in this capacity.

Currently there are three people attending the meeting from our Club, Malcolm in his capacity as coach, Kelsey for the players and myself. However if you would like to attend please let me know or if you have anything you'd like us to raise on your behalf either have a chat with one of us or drop us a line.

Fixtures posted

Following ear-ache from numerous sources this evening if you check out the club website the fixtures and calender for the season have been posted.

And just for the the pigeon amongst us (in joke sorry world) the time is 10:00pm....

Media Coverage

All too often we heard about the lack of coverage, interest or whatever in the media about the girls game but not over here in Norfolk it would seem.

The report for the Eastern Counties trip to Crawley had only been sent an hour prior to it appearing on the website of the Wymondham & Attleborough Mercury (click the picture to have a read).

This was also backed up by a call from the paper to ask further details so I am expecting some additional coverage as the season progresses.

It would be nice if the regional press picked up the story and with the World Cup due to be on these shores in the not too distance even a national story might be nice..............

For those interested in some of the other scores from the day there are a few details on the Herts site (link in the right hand column)

Video worth watching

U18's

Under 18 squad

Thank you and well done to all of the girls that represented Eastern Counties Girls Rugby in the Sussex tournament at Crawley, your behaviour, effort and skill were a credit to your clubs, coaches and parents and it was a pleasure to spend the day with you all.

While I'm on the subject THANK YOU again to all of the parents who, as we all know sacrifice a lot of time and effort (and some cash) so that you lot can do what you love.

See you all soon.

Reports from Crawley

Pictured Under 15 Squad

Eastern Counties girls travel to Crawley

Sunday 28th September saw a total of thirty-seven girls, (20 under 15’s and 17 under 18’s), travel to Crawley, Sussex to an inter-county rugby tournament.

With eleven under 15 squads and nine under 18 squads also attending eastern counties under 18’s were put into a pool of four, with Kent, Sussex and Oxfordshire.

The under 15 squad played four games and were drawn against Hertfordshire, Sussex, Oxfordshire and Middlesex. A lot of the girls in the under 15 squad had never played for eastern counties before and were understandably nervous, in some cases this was the first competitive game of rugby they had played.

They all showed great team work, and by the end of the day the girls had really gelled, this was reflected in the final results; the first two games were lost but the girls brought it back with the 3rd game being drawn and the last game being won 20-0, well done to Isobel Allen from Wymondham with two tries, Ellie Ready from Holt and Katie Parke from Swaffham with a try each.

The under 18’s also never having played together as a squad seemed to bond from the first game kick off against a well drilled Kent, the final score of this game was nil-nil.
The second game against Sussex was unfortunately lost 7-0, but with a great come back the final game was won 20-0 against Oxfordshire, with 2 well deserved tries grounded by Alex Grant from Sudbury/Swaffham after breaking through the Oxfordshire defence, Ellie Gattlin from Mildenhall College with one try and Connie Ngai from St Josephs College also with a well worked try.

Girls’ rugby in the region is still very much in a development stage but the results from this first tournament shows that the talent is out there and the handful of clubs working hard to support the game in the region are seeing the results of their players’ hard work and effort.

As mentioned in the previous posting Swaffham were well represented on the day with a total of 10 players as part of the squad.

They were;
U18's
Pippa Curtis
Alex Grant
Kelsey Davis
Chloe Cotton
U15's
Kelsey McTaggart
Emily Davis (who captained the squad for most of the day)
Lydia Hooper
Katie Parke
Shelby Davis
Chloe Bissell

Some of the girls have played previously at this level but for the likes of Kelsey M and Lydia this was their first ever competitive game.

Obviously the club is very proud of all those who represented Eastern Counties and look forward to seeing them all back for training later in the week.

Eastern Counties selections for Crawley

Congratulations to all of the girls that have been selected from around Eastern Counties to make up the squad to travel to Crawley, especially those from Swaffham. They are;

U18's
Pippa Curtis
Alex Grant
Kelsey Davis
Chloe Cotton
U15's
Kelsey McTaggart
Emily Davis
Lydia Hooper
Katie Parke
Shelby Davis

Competition for places was much more intense this year and those of you that were not selected this time should not be in any way disillusioned and I would expect you to be fighting for a place at the next trials.
Please make sure you respond to your email from Mandy as soon as possible to confirm your availability.
There is a coach, leaving Thetford Rugby Club, at 7:15 on Sunday but places are limited for supporters so please let Mandy know if you will be travelling on the coach and if you are bringing a parent/supporter.
I will see you all on Thursday but if you have any questions or queries please contact me.