Welsh girls on top in England

NINE of the top women rugby players in Wales are bidding to win the cup today - for an English team.

The women all play for Bristol side Clifton who are taking on Nottingham Casuals in the televised cup final.

And the Taffy lasses are coached by former Wales flanker Mark Perego.

The Welsh girls play their rugby across the Severn Bridge because the standard in England is so much higher.

Former Welsh women's rugby captain Non Evans, 27, said: "We reached the cup final once before and were beaten.

"This time we are hoping to go one better and lift the cup - for Clifton and for Wales."

Joining Non in the Women's National Cup Final are Welsh girls Lisa Burgess, Claire Flowers, April Dent, Dawn Mason, Pip Minto, Catherine Lenghan, Jackie Morgan and Fronwen Owens.

The game at Northampton is on Sky TV at 12.05pm. It's the only women's game broadcast live each year.

The Mirror (London, England) (April 13, 2002): p11

Lively women's movement; Richmond and Wasps revisit HQ for today's other final

SO HISTORY repeats itself. The last time two senior women's rugby teams appeared at Twickenham was in 1987. On that occasion Wasps were the victors and Richmond lost out.

Now, 14 years down the line, the same two clubs contest the RFUW Rugby World National Cup final at HQ, as a curtain-raiser to the main event, the Zurich Championship final.

But other things have changed. For a start there is now a full-blown Six Nations tournament for women, some of which was shown on television last year; this season's tournament, sadly, went largely unrecognised by broadcasters.

"It was probably because England did not start the tournament too well," said Nicki Jupp, who plays in the centre for Richmond, the cup holders, and England. In fact she was wrong. Sky wanted to be there, but there were organisational problems, which meant among other things that that there was no guaranteed foreign coverage. But as is so often the case with minor sports, when TV does not cover something, the rest of the media tends to overlook it as well.

Yet overall Jupp believes the profile of the women's game has been raised, and Paula George agrees. Shortly before high noon today the England captain will lead Wasps out on to the hallowed turf for another historic step on the long road to serious sporting recognition. Since that first flirtation with Twickenham there have been women's matches at the stadium, but only at student level, and George said: "This is really important for the women's game. It is an indication that we have been accepted into the upper echelons of rugby union. In 1990 I played at Cardiff Arms Park, and I have been waiting for the time when I could do so at Twickenham."

As shop windows go, this one is not so bad. The Rugby Football Union are bracing themselves to cope with a crowd of up to 50,000 for the two matches, and if the weather holds that is not an unrealistic expectation. And since these are two of the top four women's sides in England at present - the other two being Saracens and Clifton - who have been equally matched in the Premiership this season, there is every chance of a feast of quality rugby.

It is certainly what George is expecting from her crew. "We pride ourselves on our handling game and we try to play 15-woman rugby," she claimed. "We have a really exciting back-line. There is Lou Latter on the wing and our fly-half, Shelley Rae, who can place-kick with either foot. In fact in a recent club match this season Shelley bruised the big toe on her right foot and so kicked four successful conversions with her left. There are not many men who could do that."

Jupp countered with a list of Richmond's pluses, including Spain's scrum-half, Roccia Ramirez, and their wing Emily Feltham: "She will be the fastest person on the field, and on the other wing we have Jen Dickson, who is very quick, but also very skilful."

And provided Sky commentator Dewi Morris, the former England (men's) scrum-half, likes what he sees and persuades the viewers that the product is good, then the women's game may be able to square the vicious circle that has left them without serious long-term backing.

"We need backing to develop, but until we get the media coverage we won't attract sponsors," said Jupp. Not that the women's game is totally bereft of backers. England players do not have to fork out for quite as much as they used to, as George explained: "We used to have to buy our England shirt if we wanted to keep it, otherwise we had to hand it back. Now at least we are given a shirt, albeit for the season. But we still have some way to go to catch up with the England men, who are given two shirts per match."

No one would be advised to put their shirt on the result of this match, however. The last time these two sides met, 10 days ago in a Premiership game, Wasps, having trailed 0-8, came back to win 10-8. They lost the first meeting of the season, though, by a try.

"It will be close," said George. "Whoever gets on with it and does not dwell on the fact that television is there and it is Twickenham will have an advantage. I am going to tell my players that it is just another game, on just another pitch, and ignore the fact that it is an historic moment for the senior women's game."

Jupp is looking to the past for omens for today. Not the past of 14 years ago, but rather that of last season. She explained: "Last year we lost to Clifton in the league but went on to beat them in the cup, so I am hoping that history may be repeating itself." Which is where we came in.

The Independent on Sunday (London, England) (May 13, 2001): p12

National Cup final: report

Wasps 0 Saracens 5 .

SARACENS scored after five minutes to set a challenging pace in the women's Bread for Life National Cup final, but desperation and drizzle settled over The Stoop in equal measure and the result remained in doubt until the end.

Mistakes ruled and Saracens were fortunate to have the resilient Emma Mitchell in such commanding form. Mitchell produced the only try with a combination of pace and strength off a scrum and it is no surprise that Saracens rated her good enough to play in their second team a couple of years ago - the men's second team, that is.

Wasps would have recognised the threat which Mitchell presented at scrum-half, but when she set off on her decisive run, dipping the shoulders, maintaining speed and balance, it was class at work. The pity was that it was never fully expressed again as Saracens won the Cup for a record fifth time.

Saracens controlled 90% of the first half but made so many mistakes that they were responsible for most of the 25 scrums. Only Mitchell look capable of better things but was caught in the tide of errors which ruined the match as a spectacle.

Wasps put the ball to their wings only twice - once in the Saracens' half - and must have realised at half-time that with a modicum of belief and an increase in pace they could turn the game.

Wasps tried, but their efforts were wasted. Paula George put in a long attack from full-back only for Cheryl Stennett to drop her pass on the Saracens 22 and No 8 Jenny Chambers was also frustrated after driving through.

The final started with 14 of the England squad who will defend the World Cup in Amsterdam next month after losing to both New Zealand and Scotland in the last eight months. England, like Saracens, will have to depend on Mitchell's continued good health if they are to stand any chance of holding on to their crown.

Saracens: M Cave; J Edwards, T Collins, A de Base, E Green; S Appleby, E Mitchell (capt); M Edwards, N Ponsford, T O'Reilly (P Ramsey 61min), L Burgess, C Green, J Ross, H Clayton, C Frost.

Wasps: P George; C Stennett, R Williams, B Lloyd, S Day; G Pragnell, H Harding (N Alcock 74min); J Smith, J Potter (capt), A Parsons (V Huxford 36min), L Uttley, M Myles (O Lacey 61min), E Vermeulen (B Slee 40min), C Mulalley, J Chambers.

Scorers: Saracens. Try: Mitchell.

Referee: D Matthews (Liverpool).

Copyright (C) The Sunday Times, 1998

Source Citation
Parsons, David. "Classy Mitchell lightens gloom; Women's rugby." Sunday Times [London, England] 19 Apr. 1998

Rugby prepares for first live TV broadcast of National Cup final

JON HENDERSON

CLAIRE DONOVAN once failed to get a job because she played rugby union. 'The company I applied to turned me down because they felt I'd be far more committed to my rugby than my work, which was quite unfair.'

On the other hand, it does tell you something about the changing attitude towards what was once regarded as the quintessential chaps' game. Ten years ago, an employer would never have regarded a woman's involvement in rugby as the sort of distraction that might make her a liability. It might have raised an eyebrow, but hardly an objection.Now, though, thousands of women have crossed the touchline to cast off the traditional female role at rugby matches: providing her manly other half's team-mates with evidence of his predatory skills when he is not in the clubhouse demonstrating the liquid capacity of the male bladder. The Rugby Football Union for Women calculate that there are some 10,000 women playing the game in Britain at 270 clubs.

And there is a growing realisation that women's commitment to rugby in terms of training and practice is steadily closing the gap on men's, so the employer's misguided decision to turn down Claire Donovan did at least have the virtue of recognising that the game's rapidly expanding distaff side don't just turn up for rugby matches, fanny around for 80 minutes and spend the rest of the week buffing their nails.

A more important recognition of the advance of women's rugby takes place next Saturday, when the Bread for Life National Cup final becomes the first women's rugby union match in Britain to be televised live, with Sky dispatching 19 cameras and, among others, the former England and Lions scrum-half Dewi Morris to cover the game at the Stoop ground, home of Harlequins. Donovan will be there, too, a second-row forward in the Saracens team who have just won the Premier Division One title with an unbeaten record and hope to confirm their supremacy over their only serious rivals, Wasps, in the final.

Donovan, 26, from Cardiff

- she is also a Wales international - started playing rugby union when she was at Seale Hayne agricultural college in south Devon. 'I used to enjoy showjumping, but knew I'd never be particularly good at it, and was relatively successful at cross-country running, but absolutely hated it. Rugby was the one thing I was quite good at and actually enjoyed doing.'

She says the only aspect of rugby she had difficulty adapting to was the team thing. 'When I was show- jumping I used to go to a quiet corner of the warm-up area and just be nervous on my own. Suddenly I'd got 14 other people to be nervous with before a game, and that was quite hard.'

After Seale Hayne she moved to the South-East and, having finally overcome an ankle injury from horse-

riding, managed a full season with Canterbury in 1996-97. 'I got into the Welsh squad at the end of that season and felt I had to play at a higher standard to get my skill level up. I went to Saracens at the start of this season and graduated to the first team.'

So how hard does she train? 'Every weekday unless we've had a particularly demanding match, in which case I tend to take the Monday off. But we usually go sprint training twice a week and have club training on two other nights.

'Like the men's game, the emphasis has changed. We've lost the slow, fat forwards and everyone has had to work on their fitness and improving their speed. You have to be able to run and compete for 80 minutes, rather than scrum, walk to the next line-out and then potter about for a bit.

'I've lost two stone in the past two seasons (she is six feet and 11 and a half stone) and am fitter than I've ever been. Before, my lungs gave out before anything else; now my lungs are all right but my legs tend to go wobbly after 80 minutes.'

And in the dark recesses of the scrum, where all manner of unspeakable crimes are supposedly committed in the men's game, is the women's just as bad? 'No, I think that is one of the big differences between the two. My boyfriend hadn't really watched rugby at all until he started coming to see me play. He got quite interested in it and wanted to try playing the game himself until he went to watch a men's match. I think he was quite surprised by how much activity there was unrelated to the play.'

Away from the playing field, Donovan says the reaction to her rugby playing is generally positive, reflecting the acceptance of the women's game. 'A couple of people in the office pretend to be absolutely terrified of me and shrink away whenever I come near. And my previous boss was quite averse to me having a black eye when I came to work. One morning he said, 'Oh, nice black-eye day. Well done. Good match was it?' Then he came up to me a little later and said, 'Oh dear, Claire. We're not going to make a habit of this.'

'But most people can get past the women's rugby thing and, although it is relatively new, they take on board that you must have worked bloody hard to represent your country, which is nice. The farmer who looks after my horse down in Wales is a huge rugby fan and when he introduces me says, 'This is Claire, she's an international rugby player.' He's just as pleased as if I were Doddie Weir.'

And the employer who turned Claire Donovan down might be interested to know that she is now a highly successful technical manager for Tesco, driving the best part of 2,000 miles a week and 'dealing with suppliers from Zimbabwe to Inverness'.

'The difference between people who get to the top is how they manage their lifestyles. We've all probably got the same talent, but it's the will to do it, to fit in playing the game around your work. I was quite hurt that someone thought I wouldn't be any good at my job because I'd be too busy training.'

His loss, one suspects, has been the greater.

Source Citation
"Rugby: Claire and the girls Stoop to conquer: Jon Henderson on why thriving women's rugby deserves a TV cup final showcase." Observer [London, England] 12 Apr. 1998

National Cup final: preview

SALLY JONES

WHEN Richmond and Wasps run on to the Stoop Memorial Ground for the Vladivar Cup Final at 3pm today, at least half a dozen of the players will have a distinct sense of deja vu. For it was a decade ago, when the women's game was in its infancy, that these teams met in the first final across the road, on the hallowed turf of Twickenham.

On that occasion Wasps, the longest-established women's side in Britain, won in style, but according to the form book they will be hard put to repeat their victory this time. Richmond are packed with highly experienced internationals, including Sue Dorrington, Jenny Chambers and Deirdre Mills, and unbeaten this season.

The Wasps' right wing, Cheryl Stennett, helped England reach the 1994 world championship final, although she was not in the team that defeated the holders, the United States, to lift the trophy. She is bullish about her team's chances this afternoon, despite their underdog status.

'We've been training hard; twice a week together as a squad and then doing individual training programmes that we're given,' she says. 'We quite like being underdogs for the final because it puts the pressure on Richmond. Although they've beaten us narrowly a couple of times this season, both losses were during our bad run of injuries and now we're almost back to full strength.'

The women's game is booming at all levels. From small beginnings in the early Eighties, there are now nearly 140 teams and more than 5,000 senior players competing regularly, plus hundreds of youngsters involved in 'New Image' rugby, a less physical version of the sport.

Stennett, aged 32, a PE teacher at the South Bank International School in west London, is an enthusiastic ambassador for women's rugby and hopes to introduce it to her pupils next season. 'When I first tried rugby as a student at Bedford PE College, the thrill of being able to run with the ball and the challenge of the handling and teamwork got me hooked straight away.

'International standards have risen so much over the past few years that men watching top women's sides playing for the first time are almost always surprised by just how well they play. I think far more people now know that women's rugby exists, and when they see us in action they realise we've got a skill level and are effective decision-makers.'

She believes the key is to be accepted not as surrogate men but as women playing rugby. 'Some of the rubbish that's written, like a recent Daily Express article that said it wasn't a suitable game for women because it was a contact sport, makes me furious. I'm glad to say that the Wasps' prop Jeff Probyn, who got a lot of flak for saying he wouldn't want a girlfriend of his looking like a woman rugby player, has since apologised to us. He claims he said it jokily off the cuff - he hasn't dared to try coaching us yet, though!

'I just want to prove what we can do in the cup final. We'll be going in there with an open mind, but we're quietly confident and know that if all goes well we can certainly win it.'

Source Citation
"Upbeat wing with a sting: Sally Jones assesses the form for the women's rugby union cup final today." Observer [London, England] 9 Apr. 1995

National Cup final

The Women's Rugby Football Union holds the final of its national cup competition at Blackheath on Sunday. Richmond meet Saracens in a repeat of last year's final, which Saracens won 11-8. Richmond won a recent league match between the sides 7-6.

Barry Trowbridge

Richmond 3 Wasps 10

IT TOOK Wasps until the 49th minute of the second half to take firm control of the Women's Rugby Football Union National Cup final at the Rosslyn Park ground at Roehampton yesterday although any result other than their victory, by a try and two dropped goals to a penalty goal would have been a travesty.

Until that point, when Helen Harding, the Wasps scrum half, linked with her No.8, Heather Stirrup, to score in the right hand corner Richmond were always in with a statistical chance of stealing the day, although given that they spent all but minutes of the last hour in their own half, it never looked all that likely.

Karen Almond, the England and Great Britain captain and Wasps stand off, was the difference between the teams. Deadly accurate with her tactical kicking, she always had plenty of time to consider the options and invariably chose correctly. Her personal tally was the two dropped goals after 25 minutes and two minutes into the eight added on at the end of the first period; she narrowly missed three more attempts.

Richmond opened enthusiastically and were rewarded with a penalty goal by Deirdre Mills, their stand off, after four minutes but Wasps were soon into their stride and took territorial control they were never to lose despite Richmond's superiority in the scrum.

As a game of rugby, it was no spectacle, neither side having a player behind the scrum capable of creating openings and numerous injuries breaking up what little flow there was.

The result means that Wasps have achieved the league and cup double this season remarkable considering they lost several key players at the start of the year to Saracens.

SCORERS: Richmond: Penalty goal: Mills. Wasps: Try: Harding. Dropped goals: Almond 2.

RICHMOND: A McMahon; K Penney, P Harris, E Davies, D Francis; D Mills, D Dorling; D Grantham (rep: J Holloway), S Wachholz-Dorrington, J Watts, C Isherwood, A Cooper, H Devine, C Rhys, M Harrington.

WASPS: V Moore; C Stennett, H Maskell, C Willets, A O'Kelly; K Almond, H Harding; S Ewing, A Turner, B Davies, H Bewsy, A Parsons, P Durkan, S Martineau, H Stirrup.

Referee: A Evans (London).

Copyright (C) The Times, 1990

Source Citation
"Almond takes Wasps to league and cup double; Rugby Union." Times [London, England] 9 Apr. 1990

National Cup final, 1986

Cheryl Stennett scored three tries as Wasps beat Richmond, 34-6, in the final of the women's Rugby Union Cup at Rosslyn Park yesterday. Copyright (C) The Times, 1988

Source Citation
"Sport In Brief: Three tries." Times [London, England] 18 Apr. 1988.

FIRST Breaking down the barriers.

DAVID HANDS

Sheila Walsh, a founder member of the Women's Rugby Football Union four years ago, presented Wasps with the club championship shield after their 19-0 victory over Richmond, although clearly the main enjoyment was playing at Twickenham (David Hands writes).

The game was played across the field rather than up and down and Wasps may also have achieved another first, when Karen Almond's conversion was deflected over the bar by the charging Sue Butler.

SCORERS: Wasps: Tries: Skyes, Treadwell, Penalty try, Conversions: Almond (2) Penalty: Almond. Copyright (C) The Times, 1987

Source Citation
"Rugby Union: FIRST Breaking down the barriers." Times [London, England] 13 Apr. 1987

First women's match at Twickenham: report

WASPS became the first winners of the women's rugby club championship when they beat Richmond 19-0 at Twickenham. Fly-half Karen Almond showed herself to be on of the most gifted players around, as her side scored tries through Heather Sykes, Sally Treadwell and Collected a penalty try. Almond converted two and also kicked a penalty.

Victorious skipper Sue Bennett said: 'It was a big breakthrough for us. This should encourage a lot more girls to play rugby and keep the standard improving. '

Source Citation
"Rugby Round-up." Sunday Times [London, England] 12 Apr. 1987.

First women's match at Twickenham: announcement

The first women's Rugby Union match to be played at Twickenham, the WRFU Cup final, will be refereed by the Rev Roger Parker, of Staffordshire. The Richmond Ladies v Wasps contest will precede the men's County Championship final on Saturday.

Source Citation
"Sport In Brief: Women's final; Rugby Union." Times [London, England] 7 Apr. 1987

First women's match at Twickenham: announcement

THE LAST bastion of male chauvinism crumbles on April 11 when a full-blooded women's rugby match will be played at Twickenham. The Women's RFU will be holding their club championship final as a curtain raiser to the county championship final.

Source Citation
"Rugby Round-up." Sunday Times [London, England] 1 Mar. 1987.