Paviors RFC

Sunday afternoon saw the first afternoon Fixture at Burntstump for our newly formed U13 and U15 Girls Rugby Teams. Girls Rugby works on a “Pitch up and Play” basis, where a few teams are invited, they bring the girls they have (full team or not), a bit of magic maths occurs to put who we have into playable Teams and off we go! Never having done this before, it was a bit of an unknown quantity. I had made one contact at an NLD Girls Forum in December, so contact him I did and invited Lincoln over for our Girls first foray into a match. Then lots of late night Social Media work and messaging back and forth plus Rugby Jungle Drums beating resulted in 6 Girls Teams rocking up to play Rugby with about 60 Girls in total. Brilliant numbers for our first attempt!  The club was buzzing with visitors and spectators alike all looking forward to the afternoon’s Rugby.

The weather could not have been any more unkind. The heavens opened and the rain fell. The only thing that wasn’t dampened was the Girls spirit. In very muddy, wet, slippery conditions all the Girls got down to it and played their hearts out. Our Paviors Girls started nervously as to be expected but that didn’t last long. For a group that have been together for only a maximum of three months with new Girls joining along the way, they were magnificent. Our Coaches couldn’t have been more thrilled.

U13’s:

Coaches Fran, Rowan and Shev were pleased for both Poppy and Millie getting their first tries.  All the team put in some great tackles with special mention to Mollie who has only had 2 training sessions and made a huge try saving tackle against Rotherham! It was also great to see them all starting to bond as a team and practising their skills during breaks and giving each other high fives after scoring and making big tackles. Awesome work Girls! To quote Shev: “They all played with so much pride. They are all now official rugby players. Not sure if Ellie scored but she had a blinder.

Shev looks like a potential next Clive Woodward” Steady on there Shev…. Baby steps now!

U15’s

The bond between the U15 girls was cemented yesterday by the courage determination and resilience they showed. They came out to a warm welcome from the home crowd and put together a performance that each and every one of them can be proud of. Even though the score line didn’t go their way they showed amazing ambition and determination in defence putting some huge tackles in and turning over the ball which came within millimetres of their first try before being unfortunately overruled by the referee. All in all a solid debut. If the Girls like playing in the cold, wet and muddy conditions faced yesterday when the ball was like a slippery bar of soap then they will play rugby anytime. A performance that both Mark & Dean are super proud of.

The afternoon’s Rugby from all home and visiting teams was an absolute pleasure to watch. The club had a super atmosphere and it was great to see a packed clubhouse afterwards full of tired hungry girls all enjoying their well earned after match meal provided by our marvellous Kitchen Team. To receive lovely feedback from our visiting Teams on our organisation, provision of Referees and Club welcome was the cherry on top of the icing on top of the cake!. The momentum is gathering, please help us to continue gathering pace by spreading the word about Girls Rugby at Paviors.

Clare Raine

Click here for: Match Photos