Simon Barnes
News reaches me of the Eighth annual Boston women's rugby sevens tournament. One team, called The Pink Dresses, played in, well, pink dresses. The competition was won by a team called the Marys, all of whom were named, well, Mary. The top player was their goalkicker, the not inaptly named Mary Indelicato.
Copyright (C) The Times, 1993
Source Citation
"In the pink; Simon Barnes on Saturday." Times [London, England] 11 Dec. 1993
Saturday, 11 December 1993
Sunday, 3 October 1993
Women's rugby in Scotland
Ginny Clark
All-women Scots rugby is assembling menacing skills as the national team limbers up for the World Cup next spring, reports Ginny Clark.
LAST night in Edinburgh Ian McGeechan was once again the focus of attention as Scottish rugby paid tribute to one of its finest sons.
However, honouring the man who bowed out as Scotland and Lions coach at the end of last season was not the sole purpose of this gala dinner. The future of women's rugby was high on the agenda and the question of how to raise cash to help send the women's national team to their first appearance in the World Cup.
Holland 1994 will mark a tremendous achievement for the women, who readily admit that the sport here is still some way behind the south, not to mention other parts of the globe.
Nevertheless, Scotland has come a long way in a short time. Just 18 months ago our women had to pick themselves up from a resounding 74-0 defeat by England. That was in the bad old days, when they were not officially recognised by the Scottish Rugby Union and the organisation came under the control of the Women's Rugby Football Union of England.
Not so now. A 10-0 defeat of Ireland earlier this year gave notice of the squad's intention to put Scotland firmly in contention for international honours. This new season brings, not only new challenges for the recently formed Scottish Women's Rugby Union, but the support and back-up of associate membership of the SRU.
Predictably, the sport has had its critics. Sarah Floate, of the SWRU, says: ``There are still some men who think that women just should not be playing rugby, that it's not suitable for us. And, initially, a lot of the guys who actually came along to our matches, did so for the novelty.
``But we are winning them over. I think they have been surprised by our skill level, the emphasis on touch and control. Some of those men are now among our strongest supporters. Both Gavin Hastings and David Sole have given us practical help, with coaching as well.''
Although their sights are firmly set on Holland in April, the SWRU will not forget that they still have a lot of ground-work to do. The women's league has three divisions, with a total of 20 clubs. But only West of Scotland and Edinburgh Academicals are women's sections of established sides. The remainder are mostly university or college teams.
``That is definitely the way forward,'' says Floate. ``In fact, we may eventually have two leagues, one for clubs and one for university sides.''
Meanwhile, the SWRU has another problem to address, namely the virtual non-existence of girls' rugby at secondary school level. It is one that their counterparts in women's football have also tackled recently, planning an under-16 set up and instigating coaching programmes.
Floate agrees: ``At primary school the `new image' version of rugby is growing in popularity. This is played with both boys and girls in each side. But once they start secondary, and are segregated in sport, the girls usually have no rugby level to progress to.
``Obviously we hope to change this and we're getting help from the SRU eventually to set up a new structure, plus the organisation of special coaching and schools courses.''
It is simple enough. If girls' rugby is to go on the secondary timetable, you need trained staff to teach it. That means a determined publicity campaign to get more women involved in the sport.
And there is no question that success on the international field would be a great boost for Scotland, attracting more followers as well as silencing the critics.
The squad will have several opportunities to do just that before their World Cup trek, facing Wales on December 19, North of England on January 9 and Ireland on February 13. So, as a new season gets under way, Floate, Edinburgh Accies centre, has another, more immediate concern. Cash.
Her own team has just announced the biggest deal of women's rugby in Scotland so far, sponsored by Keir Moodie, Edinburgh solicitors. But it is a slightly different story when it comes to the national side.
``The tribute to Ian has helped, but there is still a lot of fund raising to do on the way to the World Cup target of Pounds 30,000. We were having talks with a potential sponsor, but that fell through.
``We're now hoping that there will be a big response to our sponsorship raffle. Companies or individuals can buy Pounds 180 tickets.''
The winners of a draw in two months' time will become the team's official sponsor.
Whether Scotland's chances in the World Cup turn out to be something of a lottery also remains to be seen.
The women will carry the best wishes and hopes of many when they set off for Holland. The ultimate aim must be to line up against champions America or other main contenders, such as England, the runner-up last time around.
But what kind of a hope does Scotland really have in the first stage?
``I reckon we'll do well,'' says Floate. ``We might just go through.''
Copyright (C) The Sunday Times, 1993
Source Citation
"The female pack attacks with new-found pride; Scotland." Sunday Times [London, England] 3 Oct. 1993
All-women Scots rugby is assembling menacing skills as the national team limbers up for the World Cup next spring, reports Ginny Clark.
LAST night in Edinburgh Ian McGeechan was once again the focus of attention as Scottish rugby paid tribute to one of its finest sons.
However, honouring the man who bowed out as Scotland and Lions coach at the end of last season was not the sole purpose of this gala dinner. The future of women's rugby was high on the agenda and the question of how to raise cash to help send the women's national team to their first appearance in the World Cup.
Holland 1994 will mark a tremendous achievement for the women, who readily admit that the sport here is still some way behind the south, not to mention other parts of the globe.
Nevertheless, Scotland has come a long way in a short time. Just 18 months ago our women had to pick themselves up from a resounding 74-0 defeat by England. That was in the bad old days, when they were not officially recognised by the Scottish Rugby Union and the organisation came under the control of the Women's Rugby Football Union of England.
Not so now. A 10-0 defeat of Ireland earlier this year gave notice of the squad's intention to put Scotland firmly in contention for international honours. This new season brings, not only new challenges for the recently formed Scottish Women's Rugby Union, but the support and back-up of associate membership of the SRU.
Predictably, the sport has had its critics. Sarah Floate, of the SWRU, says: ``There are still some men who think that women just should not be playing rugby, that it's not suitable for us. And, initially, a lot of the guys who actually came along to our matches, did so for the novelty.
``But we are winning them over. I think they have been surprised by our skill level, the emphasis on touch and control. Some of those men are now among our strongest supporters. Both Gavin Hastings and David Sole have given us practical help, with coaching as well.''
Although their sights are firmly set on Holland in April, the SWRU will not forget that they still have a lot of ground-work to do. The women's league has three divisions, with a total of 20 clubs. But only West of Scotland and Edinburgh Academicals are women's sections of established sides. The remainder are mostly university or college teams.
``That is definitely the way forward,'' says Floate. ``In fact, we may eventually have two leagues, one for clubs and one for university sides.''
Meanwhile, the SWRU has another problem to address, namely the virtual non-existence of girls' rugby at secondary school level. It is one that their counterparts in women's football have also tackled recently, planning an under-16 set up and instigating coaching programmes.
Floate agrees: ``At primary school the `new image' version of rugby is growing in popularity. This is played with both boys and girls in each side. But once they start secondary, and are segregated in sport, the girls usually have no rugby level to progress to.
``Obviously we hope to change this and we're getting help from the SRU eventually to set up a new structure, plus the organisation of special coaching and schools courses.''
It is simple enough. If girls' rugby is to go on the secondary timetable, you need trained staff to teach it. That means a determined publicity campaign to get more women involved in the sport.
And there is no question that success on the international field would be a great boost for Scotland, attracting more followers as well as silencing the critics.
The squad will have several opportunities to do just that before their World Cup trek, facing Wales on December 19, North of England on January 9 and Ireland on February 13. So, as a new season gets under way, Floate, Edinburgh Accies centre, has another, more immediate concern. Cash.
Her own team has just announced the biggest deal of women's rugby in Scotland so far, sponsored by Keir Moodie, Edinburgh solicitors. But it is a slightly different story when it comes to the national side.
``The tribute to Ian has helped, but there is still a lot of fund raising to do on the way to the World Cup target of Pounds 30,000. We were having talks with a potential sponsor, but that fell through.
``We're now hoping that there will be a big response to our sponsorship raffle. Companies or individuals can buy Pounds 180 tickets.''
The winners of a draw in two months' time will become the team's official sponsor.
Whether Scotland's chances in the World Cup turn out to be something of a lottery also remains to be seen.
The women will carry the best wishes and hopes of many when they set off for Holland. The ultimate aim must be to line up against champions America or other main contenders, such as England, the runner-up last time around.
But what kind of a hope does Scotland really have in the first stage?
``I reckon we'll do well,'' says Floate. ``We might just go through.''
Copyright (C) The Sunday Times, 1993
Source Citation
"The female pack attacks with new-found pride; Scotland." Sunday Times [London, England] 3 Oct. 1993
Friday, 3 April 1992
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.
Saturday, 15 February 1992
Misprint
'In last week's Journal we mentioned that Tracy Goodwin had an outstanding game for the Ladies Rugby Club. This was in fact Tracy's daughter Nicola Goodwin. Tracy is in fact Nicola's father and is more at home on the cricket field rather than the rugby pitch. Sorry Tracy!'
Hereford Journal
Hereford Journal
Wednesday, 12 February 1992
Wales v England: feature
William Greaves
In three hours they would be striding out on to the hallowed ground of Cardiff Arms Park, the ancestral home of Welsh rugby where Gareth Edwards and J.P.R. Williams once reigned supreme. But now the track-suited forwards were sitting, lounging and crouching on and around the double bed of room 213 at the city's Angel Hotel, listening to coach Jonathan Moore telling them what to expect from the much-vaunted English pack.
``When they're in our 22 they'll attack off the back row and look to work a switch with the centres, so watch the blind side,'' he said, in a jargon which was instantly understood by an audience of thoughtfully nodding heads. ``If the back row start running it's your job, Bess, to get out there tackling...''
From the corner, Belinda Davies, a 29-year-old sales manager from Llandrindod Wells, felt moved to offer her view of her opposing prop forward, Sandy Ewing: ``She's happy when she's allowed to look good running around the park but give her a bad time in the scrum and she's knackered.''
The tension eased. This was fighting talk and just the kind of thing 25-year-old Bess Evans, hooker, vice-captain and chairman of the Welsh Women's Rugby Football Union, needed to hear to quell the big match nerves which had kept her awake for most of the night.
As the host organiser of the sixth clash between the women of Wales and England, she knew better than anybody the significance of the next few hours. This was much more than a game of rugger. It was the day when the audience response would determine whether her sex had really made its mark on the most intimately physical of all outdoor team sports.
I had come, full of joy and rich in mixed metaphor, to watch jolly hockey sticks replacing the blood and bruises of the real thing.
There would never be a better chance to challenge such chauvinist prejudices. Although their first club sides date back to the late 1970s and the Women's Rugby Football Union (WRFU) was formed nine years ago, last Sunday was the first time they had been allowed to use a national stadium for a home international match.
And if that were not milestone enough, the game was to be refereed by Derek Bevan, who took charge of last year's World Cup final in which Australia and England could have filled Twickenham many times over.
Would such an eloquent vote of confidence from one of the most respected officials of the men's game produce the kind of spectator attendance which was so desperately needed?
That all this was haunting the Welsh chairman's mind through those fitful hours of darkness was confirmed first thing on the morning of battle by her roommate Tania Wear, a 26-year-old engineering undergraduate, loose head prop forward and new cap. ``Every time I rolled over, I was aware of Bess lying there wide awake, staring at the ceiling,'' she said.
Miss Evans, an athletic and irrepressibly cheerful postgraduate student of the University of Wales, where she is studying for an M.Phil in sports physiology, agreed that it had been a disastrous night. ``The trouble was that I was wearing two hats. As a player I badly want to beat England but I'm also concerned that the whole day is a success. Because we are playing at the Arms Park, I thought it was important to keep up the stature of the occasion by booking the two teams into good hotels nearby. The Welsh Rugby Union gave us the ground but we have to pay for the security stewards and although both the Grand and the Angel hotels have generously given me time to settle their accounts, I'll be in big trouble if we don't get enough through the turnstiles.''
With 130 club sides but no major sponsor, women's rugby is both the fastest-growing team sport in Britain (according to the Sports Council) and a shoestring survivor. That one of its star players should have to lift her eyes from the scrum and anxiously count the paying punters comes as no surprise to Karen Almond, a PE teacher from Hertfordshire who is the England visitors' captain, fly half and a veteran of 20 internationals. ``We've always had to pay for our own travel and hotels and we even have to buy our shirts and socks out of our own pocket,'' she said without a hint of complaint. ``We had our own world cup competition last year and England lost to the US in the final. We'd love to go over there to play a return but it's an awfully long way away.''
By 6.30am, Miss Evans gave up the unequal struggle against insomnia, got dressed and went out to pace the Cardiff pavements. Three hours later she joined her teammates for a carbohydrate breakfast of pasta and a lemon and lime energy drink which Carol Thomas, a wing forward with eight previous caps but today one of the replacements on the bench, said tasted much better with vodka in it. Everyone laughed a bit too loudly. Badinage was clearly an approved antidote to ever-tightening nerves.
Afterwards in room 102 ``just give me five minutes to tidy away yesterday's knickers'' (more laughter and several ribald comments) Miss Evans laid newspaper on the bed to get down to the chore of boot-cleaning. ``I never had any feminist ambition to knock down barriers,'' she said. ``I was introduced to the game at college and wanted to play it because unlike hockey and netball it was a young, growing sport and I suppose the physical contact side of it appealed to me, too.''
With an hour to go before kick-off, both teams were changed and out on the turf for team pictures. Edginess was everywhere as each player found her own method to calm a pounding heart. Miss Wear looked up at the empty stands. ``You can almost feel them filled with people, can't you?'' she said. ``It's a dream come true. At college a lot of the boys talk about one day playing at Cardiff Arms Park well I've beaten them too it.''
The crowd, including guests, built up to about 3,000 and the all-important turnstile receipts to Pounds 6,500 ``certainly enough to cover the hotel and security bills'', said a much relieved Miss Evans afterwards. If it was not exactly the capacity 53,000 that would have graced the comparable men's international clash, by the time the band had played the national anthems, there was no shortage of partisan clamour.
And within about 20 minutes at least one male spectator was aware of a strange attitude conversion. England's fleet-footed Deborah Francis had gone over for a try in the corner; at the other end Welsh flanker Jackie Morgan had taken advantage of an appalling defensive mix-up to touch down the equalising points; the crowd, equally divided in allegiance, bayed its encouragement and the field was no longer full of women but of rugby players locked in mighty conflict.
The game ebbed and flowed with Miss Almond and her opposing Welsh fly-half, Samantha Porter, exchanging a couple of penalty goals each. A lengthy period of English pressure in the last half hour brought a spectacular try from full-back Jane Mitchell and a winning margin of 14-10.
Back at the hotel, Rosie Golby, a player herself and the secretary of the WRFU, laughed at my reaction. ``That's what nearly everyone says when they watch for the first time that they soon forget that we are women,'' she said.
Last to arrive at the reception was Miss Evans delayed by having two stitches in a badly cut lip.
`I went in to tackle Jill Burns, the English No8, and her head popped up and caught me,'' she said philosophically. ``It doesn't look very pretty and I'm afraid it's ruined my chances for tonight.''
Her mother, Jean Evans, put a consoling arm around her. ``She's had black eyes, terrible bruises and one broken leg and I always seem to end up taking her to hospital,'' she said.
``But I never worry. Our whole household is given over to women's rugby and she's doing what she wants to do.''
Copyright (C) The Times, 1992
Source Citation
"Hard tackles on a shoestring; Life and Times." Times [London, England] 12 Feb. 1992
In three hours they would be striding out on to the hallowed ground of Cardiff Arms Park, the ancestral home of Welsh rugby where Gareth Edwards and J.P.R. Williams once reigned supreme. But now the track-suited forwards were sitting, lounging and crouching on and around the double bed of room 213 at the city's Angel Hotel, listening to coach Jonathan Moore telling them what to expect from the much-vaunted English pack.
``When they're in our 22 they'll attack off the back row and look to work a switch with the centres, so watch the blind side,'' he said, in a jargon which was instantly understood by an audience of thoughtfully nodding heads. ``If the back row start running it's your job, Bess, to get out there tackling...''
From the corner, Belinda Davies, a 29-year-old sales manager from Llandrindod Wells, felt moved to offer her view of her opposing prop forward, Sandy Ewing: ``She's happy when she's allowed to look good running around the park but give her a bad time in the scrum and she's knackered.''
The tension eased. This was fighting talk and just the kind of thing 25-year-old Bess Evans, hooker, vice-captain and chairman of the Welsh Women's Rugby Football Union, needed to hear to quell the big match nerves which had kept her awake for most of the night.
As the host organiser of the sixth clash between the women of Wales and England, she knew better than anybody the significance of the next few hours. This was much more than a game of rugger. It was the day when the audience response would determine whether her sex had really made its mark on the most intimately physical of all outdoor team sports.
I had come, full of joy and rich in mixed metaphor, to watch jolly hockey sticks replacing the blood and bruises of the real thing.
There would never be a better chance to challenge such chauvinist prejudices. Although their first club sides date back to the late 1970s and the Women's Rugby Football Union (WRFU) was formed nine years ago, last Sunday was the first time they had been allowed to use a national stadium for a home international match.
And if that were not milestone enough, the game was to be refereed by Derek Bevan, who took charge of last year's World Cup final in which Australia and England could have filled Twickenham many times over.
Would such an eloquent vote of confidence from one of the most respected officials of the men's game produce the kind of spectator attendance which was so desperately needed?
That all this was haunting the Welsh chairman's mind through those fitful hours of darkness was confirmed first thing on the morning of battle by her roommate Tania Wear, a 26-year-old engineering undergraduate, loose head prop forward and new cap. ``Every time I rolled over, I was aware of Bess lying there wide awake, staring at the ceiling,'' she said.
Miss Evans, an athletic and irrepressibly cheerful postgraduate student of the University of Wales, where she is studying for an M.Phil in sports physiology, agreed that it had been a disastrous night. ``The trouble was that I was wearing two hats. As a player I badly want to beat England but I'm also concerned that the whole day is a success. Because we are playing at the Arms Park, I thought it was important to keep up the stature of the occasion by booking the two teams into good hotels nearby. The Welsh Rugby Union gave us the ground but we have to pay for the security stewards and although both the Grand and the Angel hotels have generously given me time to settle their accounts, I'll be in big trouble if we don't get enough through the turnstiles.''
With 130 club sides but no major sponsor, women's rugby is both the fastest-growing team sport in Britain (according to the Sports Council) and a shoestring survivor. That one of its star players should have to lift her eyes from the scrum and anxiously count the paying punters comes as no surprise to Karen Almond, a PE teacher from Hertfordshire who is the England visitors' captain, fly half and a veteran of 20 internationals. ``We've always had to pay for our own travel and hotels and we even have to buy our shirts and socks out of our own pocket,'' she said without a hint of complaint. ``We had our own world cup competition last year and England lost to the US in the final. We'd love to go over there to play a return but it's an awfully long way away.''
By 6.30am, Miss Evans gave up the unequal struggle against insomnia, got dressed and went out to pace the Cardiff pavements. Three hours later she joined her teammates for a carbohydrate breakfast of pasta and a lemon and lime energy drink which Carol Thomas, a wing forward with eight previous caps but today one of the replacements on the bench, said tasted much better with vodka in it. Everyone laughed a bit too loudly. Badinage was clearly an approved antidote to ever-tightening nerves.
Afterwards in room 102 ``just give me five minutes to tidy away yesterday's knickers'' (more laughter and several ribald comments) Miss Evans laid newspaper on the bed to get down to the chore of boot-cleaning. ``I never had any feminist ambition to knock down barriers,'' she said. ``I was introduced to the game at college and wanted to play it because unlike hockey and netball it was a young, growing sport and I suppose the physical contact side of it appealed to me, too.''
With an hour to go before kick-off, both teams were changed and out on the turf for team pictures. Edginess was everywhere as each player found her own method to calm a pounding heart. Miss Wear looked up at the empty stands. ``You can almost feel them filled with people, can't you?'' she said. ``It's a dream come true. At college a lot of the boys talk about one day playing at Cardiff Arms Park well I've beaten them too it.''
The crowd, including guests, built up to about 3,000 and the all-important turnstile receipts to Pounds 6,500 ``certainly enough to cover the hotel and security bills'', said a much relieved Miss Evans afterwards. If it was not exactly the capacity 53,000 that would have graced the comparable men's international clash, by the time the band had played the national anthems, there was no shortage of partisan clamour.
And within about 20 minutes at least one male spectator was aware of a strange attitude conversion. England's fleet-footed Deborah Francis had gone over for a try in the corner; at the other end Welsh flanker Jackie Morgan had taken advantage of an appalling defensive mix-up to touch down the equalising points; the crowd, equally divided in allegiance, bayed its encouragement and the field was no longer full of women but of rugby players locked in mighty conflict.
The game ebbed and flowed with Miss Almond and her opposing Welsh fly-half, Samantha Porter, exchanging a couple of penalty goals each. A lengthy period of English pressure in the last half hour brought a spectacular try from full-back Jane Mitchell and a winning margin of 14-10.
Back at the hotel, Rosie Golby, a player herself and the secretary of the WRFU, laughed at my reaction. ``That's what nearly everyone says when they watch for the first time that they soon forget that we are women,'' she said.
Last to arrive at the reception was Miss Evans delayed by having two stitches in a badly cut lip.
`I went in to tackle Jill Burns, the English No8, and her head popped up and caught me,'' she said philosophically. ``It doesn't look very pretty and I'm afraid it's ruined my chances for tonight.''
Her mother, Jean Evans, put a consoling arm around her. ``She's had black eyes, terrible bruises and one broken leg and I always seem to end up taking her to hospital,'' she said.
``But I never worry. Our whole household is given over to women's rugby and she's doing what she wants to do.''
Copyright (C) The Times, 1992
Source Citation
"Hard tackles on a shoestring; Life and Times." Times [London, England] 12 Feb. 1992
Monday, 10 February 1992
Wales v England
JANE Mitchell, the Saracens full back, maintained England's unbeaten record over Wales by scoring the match-winning try in injury time yesterday in the first women's rugby international to be staged at Cardiff Arms Park (a Special Correspondent writes). England won 14-10.
Deborah Francis, the Richmond wing, gave England the lead with the opening try of the game, but Wales hit back courtesy of a try by their Pontypool flanker, Jackie Morgan.
The first of two penalty goals by Samantha Porter, the Cardiff stand-off half winning international honours in her third sport, gave Wales the lead, but Karen Almond, her opposite number, made it 7-7 at the interval with a penalty of her own. Porter's second successful kick, ten minutes into the second half, raised Welsh hopes in front of a 2,500 crowd, but Almond tied the scores again with her second penalty goal.
SCORERS: Wales: Try: Morgan. Penalty goals: Porter (2). England: Tries: Francis, Mitchell. Penalty goals: Almond (2).
WALES: J Thomas (Bedford); W Shaw (Lampeter), J Jones (Blaenau Gwent), E Davies (Richmond), P George (Richmond); S Porter (Cardiff), J Decaux (Cardiff); T Wear (Cardiff), B Evans (Cardiff), B Davies (Lampeter), K Eaves (Wasps), F Margerison (Cardiff), J Morgan (Pontypool), L Burgess (Saracens, captain), C Mann (Cardiff).
ENGLAND: J Mitchell (Saracens); C Stennett (Wasps), J Edwards (Blackheath), G Prangell (Richmond), D Francis (Richmond); K Almond (Wasps, captain), E Mitchell (Saracens); J Mangham (Waterloo), S Wachholz (Richmond), S Ewing (Wasps), H Stirrup (Wasps), S Wenn (Clifton), G Burns (Waterloo), M Edwards (Blackheath).
Referee: W D Bevan (WRU).
Copyright (C) The Times, 1992
Source Citation
"Mitchell maintains an unbeaten record; Rugby Union." Times [London, England] 10 Feb. 1992
Deborah Francis, the Richmond wing, gave England the lead with the opening try of the game, but Wales hit back courtesy of a try by their Pontypool flanker, Jackie Morgan.
The first of two penalty goals by Samantha Porter, the Cardiff stand-off half winning international honours in her third sport, gave Wales the lead, but Karen Almond, her opposite number, made it 7-7 at the interval with a penalty of her own. Porter's second successful kick, ten minutes into the second half, raised Welsh hopes in front of a 2,500 crowd, but Almond tied the scores again with her second penalty goal.
SCORERS: Wales: Try: Morgan. Penalty goals: Porter (2). England: Tries: Francis, Mitchell. Penalty goals: Almond (2).
WALES: J Thomas (Bedford); W Shaw (Lampeter), J Jones (Blaenau Gwent), E Davies (Richmond), P George (Richmond); S Porter (Cardiff), J Decaux (Cardiff); T Wear (Cardiff), B Evans (Cardiff), B Davies (Lampeter), K Eaves (Wasps), F Margerison (Cardiff), J Morgan (Pontypool), L Burgess (Saracens, captain), C Mann (Cardiff).
ENGLAND: J Mitchell (Saracens); C Stennett (Wasps), J Edwards (Blackheath), G Prangell (Richmond), D Francis (Richmond); K Almond (Wasps, captain), E Mitchell (Saracens); J Mangham (Waterloo), S Wachholz (Richmond), S Ewing (Wasps), H Stirrup (Wasps), S Wenn (Clifton), G Burns (Waterloo), M Edwards (Blackheath).
Referee: W D Bevan (WRU).
Copyright (C) The Times, 1992
Source Citation
"Mitchell maintains an unbeaten record; Rugby Union." Times [London, England] 10 Feb. 1992
Sunday, 24 November 1991
Pregnancy in women's rugby
Simon Barnes
Women's rugby is clearly the game of the 21st Century. It has, its exponents are always delighted to point out, many differences to the men's game. One of these is that among the ranks of the first division side, Clifton WRFC, one lock and three backs are pregnant. The WRFU operates an insurance policy that is invalidated by pregnancy.
Copyright (C) The Times, 1991
Source Citation
"Women's rugby; Rugby Union." Times [London, England] 23 Nov. 1991
Women's rugby is clearly the game of the 21st Century. It has, its exponents are always delighted to point out, many differences to the men's game. One of these is that among the ranks of the first division side, Clifton WRFC, one lock and three backs are pregnant. The WRFU operates an insurance policy that is invalidated by pregnancy.
Copyright (C) The Times, 1991
Source Citation
"Women's rugby; Rugby Union." Times [London, England] 23 Nov. 1991
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