Try-out sessions convert ladies to the joy of rugby

NEWLY-introduced ladies rugby sessions are proving popular at Barnard Castle.
The rugby club is now hoping to build on this initial success which has seen up to 25 junior girls and senior ladies attend Thursday night training by attracting more players.
The new section owes its inception to the success of girls rugby at Teesdale School – and the teenage daughter of Paul Davis, one of the club’s coaches.
“Teesdale School has a girls team and my daughter Sophie had been to a tournament with the school,” said Mr Davis.
“They did very well and Sophie had been on at me about starting something at the club.”
He decided to see if there was wider interest in ladies rugby and a meeting was called at Barney rugby club in the summer.
“We had about 13 turn up for the meeting and it has grown from there.
“A lot who play for the school’s U15s come along, but we also have about six senior ladies as well.
“We are keen for more ladies and players at U18, U15 and U13 to get involved.”
Since the weekly sessions began, the players have been taught the fundamentals of the game and Mr Davis said it was full contact rugby.
“The line-outs and scrums for the U13s are non-competitive but for the U18s and ladies it’s full blown rules.
“When we practice together as a group, it is non-contact. When there is contact, we split up into age groups and teach them how to do things safely and with the proper techniques.”
All players have gum shields and head guards are available as required.
Mr Davis said that at this stage, players were taught about all positions rather than given a specific role, such as forward, back, scrum half or stand-off. When the Mercury was invited along, the skills of the ruck and maul were being tackled.
He said he was pleased with the progress to date.
“It’s been great. Our aim was to teach them to play rugby this season and look at playing in a tournament next season, but I think they will be ready for tournament play by the end of this season,” he said. “There are four coaches at the club who take the sessions and all of us are RFU qualified.”
Support has also come from one of the most successful female players England has produced.
Tamara Taylor, who plays for Mowden Park, in Darlington, is a World Cup winner with England and also captained the national side to Six Nations success last season.
In her role as an RFU community coach, she has been along to one of the fledgeling Barney group’s training sessions to offer her support.
Mr Davis said the new ladies section had been welcomed into the club.
“We train on the same night as the lads and there has never been any issue about sharing the floodlights or waiting for us to do our bit.”
He urged anyone interested to come and give it a go.
“It’s very good for team work and there’s great camaraderie,” he said.
Anyone interested in junior girls and senior ladies rugby can contact Mr Davis on 07740 086685 or by email paul.davis@bcrufc.org