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
Saturday, 13 April 2002
Wednesday, 20 February 2002
England's women in line to make Twickenham debut
David Hands Rugby Correspondent
ONE World Cup win and appearances in all four World Cup finals have finally gained England's women rugby players their reward. Erica Roe's streak in 1982 has been the most enduring image of a woman on the Twickenham pitch but that is soon to change as England's women will make their first international appearance at the ground next year, in all probability against France on February 15, the opening weekend of the men's Royal Bank of Scotland Six Nations Championship.
Patience has been a virtue for the women, of whom there are more than 7,000 regularly playing. They began lobbying to play at English headquarters six years ago and resumed two years ago from the inside when the Rugby Football Union for Women (RFUW) took up administrative residence at Twickenham.
"It was fantastic news when the management board decided to offer us a choice of dates," Carol Isherwood, the RFUW performance director, said. "All the players are so excited about it and I'm thrilled for all of those who have worked so hard."
The women, runners-up to New Zealand in the past two World Cups, of 2002 and 1998, but victors over New Zealand on tour last year, were offered the choice of playing a curtain-raiser to either England men's Six Nations match against France on February 15 or Italy on March 9. As France deprived England of the women's Six Nations title last season, Isherwood's inclination is to take the first opportunity.
"We have had an intense rivalry with France since Britain first played them in 1986," she said, "and the profile that would give the women's game would be great."
The first women's match to be played at Twickenham was the national cup final of 1987, when Wasps beat Richmond 19-0 in a curtain-raiser to the men's county championship final between Yorkshire and Middlesex. The Welsh National Stadium hosted Wales against England in 1992 and the BUSA women's knockout final has been at Twickenham since 1995. Last year, the national cup final, between Richmond and Wasps, returned, but a full-scale international has long been deserved. Certainly the men will support it.
Clive Woodward, the England head coach, said he was delighted, adding: "Carol Isherwood and Geoff Richards (the women's coach) have done an excellent job and I would encourage the crowd at Twickenham to give them as much support as possible."
The Times (London, England) (Dec 20, 2002): p41
ONE World Cup win and appearances in all four World Cup finals have finally gained England's women rugby players their reward. Erica Roe's streak in 1982 has been the most enduring image of a woman on the Twickenham pitch but that is soon to change as England's women will make their first international appearance at the ground next year, in all probability against France on February 15, the opening weekend of the men's Royal Bank of Scotland Six Nations Championship.
Patience has been a virtue for the women, of whom there are more than 7,000 regularly playing. They began lobbying to play at English headquarters six years ago and resumed two years ago from the inside when the Rugby Football Union for Women (RFUW) took up administrative residence at Twickenham.
"It was fantastic news when the management board decided to offer us a choice of dates," Carol Isherwood, the RFUW performance director, said. "All the players are so excited about it and I'm thrilled for all of those who have worked so hard."
The women, runners-up to New Zealand in the past two World Cups, of 2002 and 1998, but victors over New Zealand on tour last year, were offered the choice of playing a curtain-raiser to either England men's Six Nations match against France on February 15 or Italy on March 9. As France deprived England of the women's Six Nations title last season, Isherwood's inclination is to take the first opportunity.
"We have had an intense rivalry with France since Britain first played them in 1986," she said, "and the profile that would give the women's game would be great."
The first women's match to be played at Twickenham was the national cup final of 1987, when Wasps beat Richmond 19-0 in a curtain-raiser to the men's county championship final between Yorkshire and Middlesex. The Welsh National Stadium hosted Wales against England in 1992 and the BUSA women's knockout final has been at Twickenham since 1995. Last year, the national cup final, between Richmond and Wasps, returned, but a full-scale international has long been deserved. Certainly the men will support it.
Clive Woodward, the England head coach, said he was delighted, adding: "Carol Isherwood and Geoff Richards (the women's coach) have done an excellent job and I would encourage the crowd at Twickenham to give them as much support as possible."
The Times (London, England) (Dec 20, 2002): p41
Monday, 18 February 2002
Experience counts for women
David Hands
England 79, Ireland 0
ENGLAND achieved their ambition of a clean sheet in the women's Six Nations at Worcester yesterday against a side still desperately trying to find their feet at this level. But, for all the pleasure in a 13-try performance, there are plenty of areas to work on before the World Cup in May.
The countries do not occupy the same playing field in experience, physique or resources and it showed. Ireland, despite famous names in Rosie Foley (sister of the men's No 8, Anthony) and Rachel Tucker (whose father, Colm, also played for Ireland) are still building. Chris Diver led the rout with four tries. France, on March 1, will be a more demanding test.
SCORERS: England: Tries: Garnett (1min), De Biase (3), Diver 4 (10, 27, 40, 80), Crawford 2 (16, 68), Yapp (37), George 2 (39, 65), Feltham (70), Day (73). Conversions: Frost 6, Rae.
SCORING SEQUENCE (England first): 7-0, 12-0, 17-0, 22-0, 29-0, 36-0, 43-0, 50 0 (half-time), 57-0, 62-0, 67-0, 72-0, 79-0.
ENGLAND: P George (Wasps, captain; rep: E Feltham, Richmond, 66); N Crawford (Worcester), S Day (Wasps), A de Biase (Saracens; rep: S Rudge, Clifton, 51), C Diver (Richmond); S Appleby (Clifton), J Yapp (Worcester; rep: S Rae, Wasps, 68); S Whitehead (Richmond; rep: V Huxford, Wasps, 47), A Garnett (Saracens; rep: A O'Flynn, Waterloo, 31), M Edwards (Richmond), J Sutton (Richmond; rep: G Burns, Waterloo, 61), K Henderson (Clifton), J Phillips (Saracens), H Clayton (Saracens; rep: G Stevens, Clifton, 66), C Frost
(Saracens).
IRELAND: S-J Belton (UL Bohemian); S Fleming (Cooke, captain), P Kelly (UL Bohemian; rep: R Tucker, Shannon, 16-20), R Boyd (Cooke), F Neary (Waterloo; rep: L Cantwell, UL Bohemians, 40); N Milne (Worcester), K Eagleson (Cooke; rep: R Howell, UL Bohemians, 64); M Coulter (Blackrock College), E Collins (UL Bohemian; rep: J Longergan, Shannon, 64), E Coen (Highfield; rep: G McAllister, Cooke, 49), M Quirke (UL Bohemian; rep: R Foley, Shannon, 57), A-M McAllister (Blackrock College), R Reid (Cooke; rep: B Montgomery, Rippon, 57), F Steed (Shannon), E Wessell (Richmond).
Referee: S Cortabarria (Spain).
The Times (London, England) (Feb 18, 2002): p32
England 79, Ireland 0
ENGLAND achieved their ambition of a clean sheet in the women's Six Nations at Worcester yesterday against a side still desperately trying to find their feet at this level. But, for all the pleasure in a 13-try performance, there are plenty of areas to work on before the World Cup in May.
The countries do not occupy the same playing field in experience, physique or resources and it showed. Ireland, despite famous names in Rosie Foley (sister of the men's No 8, Anthony) and Rachel Tucker (whose father, Colm, also played for Ireland) are still building. Chris Diver led the rout with four tries. France, on March 1, will be a more demanding test.
SCORERS: England: Tries: Garnett (1min), De Biase (3), Diver 4 (10, 27, 40, 80), Crawford 2 (16, 68), Yapp (37), George 2 (39, 65), Feltham (70), Day (73). Conversions: Frost 6, Rae.
SCORING SEQUENCE (England first): 7-0, 12-0, 17-0, 22-0, 29-0, 36-0, 43-0, 50 0 (half-time), 57-0, 62-0, 67-0, 72-0, 79-0.
ENGLAND: P George (Wasps, captain; rep: E Feltham, Richmond, 66); N Crawford (Worcester), S Day (Wasps), A de Biase (Saracens; rep: S Rudge, Clifton, 51), C Diver (Richmond); S Appleby (Clifton), J Yapp (Worcester; rep: S Rae, Wasps, 68); S Whitehead (Richmond; rep: V Huxford, Wasps, 47), A Garnett (Saracens; rep: A O'Flynn, Waterloo, 31), M Edwards (Richmond), J Sutton (Richmond; rep: G Burns, Waterloo, 61), K Henderson (Clifton), J Phillips (Saracens), H Clayton (Saracens; rep: G Stevens, Clifton, 66), C Frost
(Saracens).
IRELAND: S-J Belton (UL Bohemian); S Fleming (Cooke, captain), P Kelly (UL Bohemian; rep: R Tucker, Shannon, 16-20), R Boyd (Cooke), F Neary (Waterloo; rep: L Cantwell, UL Bohemians, 40); N Milne (Worcester), K Eagleson (Cooke; rep: R Howell, UL Bohemians, 64); M Coulter (Blackrock College), E Collins (UL Bohemian; rep: J Longergan, Shannon, 64), E Coen (Highfield; rep: G McAllister, Cooke, 49), M Quirke (UL Bohemian; rep: R Foley, Shannon, 57), A-M McAllister (Blackrock College), R Reid (Cooke; rep: B Montgomery, Rippon, 57), F Steed (Shannon), E Wessell (Richmond).
Referee: S Cortabarria (Spain).
The Times (London, England) (Feb 18, 2002): p32
Saturday, 12 January 2002
Tough childhood stood Paula George in good stead for role as England women's rugby captain; Saturday Interview
Sue Mott
A GIRL named George. That was an interesting start in itself. Then she took up rugby. What was she trying to do? Put herself beyond the pale of civilised society, with all that stomping and scrummaging and singing potentially unsuitable songs? A black Welsh girl from a disrupted home and prey to racism, she might have been wise to avoid descent into a pit of female inappropriateness in a gumshield, as the dear old chauvinists would have it. But they don't know Paula George.
She is a barrier breaker, the England women's rugby captain. She had a tough childhood, fought - sometimes literally - through it all to become a Welsh netball international, part of the team who came fourth in the 1991 World Cup. But it didn't quite do. She trained once with the women's rugby squad at the South Glamorgan Institute. That was it. Hooked.
"I didn't know I wanted to be a warrior until I tasted it. It was all a bit of a dare at the time. I thought I'd just do one rugby session and get it over, to prove that netball girls weren't soft. But, to my netball coach's horror, I loved it. It was my first taste of something I really wanted to do. Not the taste of blood, not quite. It just arouses passion in you that's awesome.
"I'm a very passionate person. If I do something I go full at it, 100 per cent. The feeling was of freedom. That's the exact word. How many women's sports do you know where you can actually run with the ball? You can do almost anything to get through the person in front of you. You can use everything God gave you. Speed, size, guile. You never quite got that in netball. Not to diss netball in any sense. It's just that rugby is such a cool sport, a secret the men kept for years and years and years, and now we've cracked it."
And her collarbone, in fact. But that is the only serious injury in a 10-year rugby career, for Wales and England, Richmond and Wasps, which has propelled her, at 33, to the very pinnacle of a burgeoning women's sport. Oh yes, I'm afraid so. When the World Cup in Barcelona is played in May, 16 teams including world champions New Zealand, Australia, Samoa, Spain, Scotland, the United States and Kazakhstan will be playing a brand of rugby that is not for the faint-hearted. Nor the sceptics.
You can say this categorically, having seen the video. Athleticism, commitment, professionalism are making their mark on a sport that was considered almost an affront to nature 20 years ago.
Emily Feltham, wing, screaming past the All Blacks defence to score the winning last- minute try last year in front of a crowd of 40,000 at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland. The first time New Zealand had been beaten in 10 years. George's tackle on Anna Richards, the New Zealand fly-half, which resembled the slamming of a reinforced steel door. Above all, George's face at the final whistle. "The greatest moment of my life," she said. Fists upraised, the roar of ecstasy, the tight white gumshield. It is a picture of belief rewarded.
That belief has been tungsten strong. It had to be. She was born in Wales and grew up in a little Mid-Glamorgan village, Kenfig Hill, near Bridgend. "There was five of us. I was the eldest. I had four sisters. Four white sisters, because I had a different dad to them. As a family we were all quite physical. We were all born a year apart and we used to have a lot of fights and that kind of stuff. But they could never beat me. They were always trying to pin me down. Always rough-housing. I thought that was quite normal.
"I was in a school of 1,600 kids. The only black ones were myself and a young Asian boy. That was quite difficult. I was pretty tough though. I handled it in a variety of ways. Admittedly, at first I used violence but I soon learnt alternatives. I had a very good English teacher who taught me the power of wit. Taught me words were a far more powerful weapon."
One concedes this but can imagine that 1,598 pupils were also aware of her previous left hook. Anyway, she survived and thrived. "I came to like school. I loved it, in fact. I liked the discipline. I worked really hard. Got good grades. I enjoyed achieving. If I didn't get the grade I wanted, I'd hunt the teacher down and say, `Why have I got a B? What have I got to do to get an A?' I think growing up as one of just two black kids in the school makes you know what you want."
Her home life, through all this, had been sub-divided and reconvened in many different ways. Her mother left home and fought a bitter custody battle for her daughters with George's step-father. He won but was subsequently injured in an open-cast mining accident and the girls were sent to a foster home in Caerphilly.
"I remember having my 12th birthday there," she said. "I can't remember my 13th." She desperately wanted to return to the village she knew and eventually did so, but failing relations with her stepfather led her to leaving home at the age of 15. She went to live with a local woman she called simply "Gran".
"She'd always known me. She wanted to look after me and I stayed with her all through my GCSEs and A-levels." It was there George discovered her favourite book, Great Expectations, which has a ring of symbolism about it. "It was the only book Gran ever had in the house, so I just read it over and over."
She has long since been reacquainted with her mother, who remarried and lives in Ireland. She is trying to trace the father she never knew through the American military.
Concurrent with this fairly eventful home and school life was sport. Enter Miss Avril Roper, the games teacher who George has never forgotten who one break time plucked her from the playground where she was always playing cricket or rugby or football with the lads. "I wasn't allowed to play in the school teams, so I just joined in the kickabouts. Miss Roper was the one who dragged me off to netball. I said, `I don't want to play that. It's too soft.' So she just hauled me off to watch an international match at Cardiff, Wales versus Australia I think it was. I said, `This is good. I want to play this.' She said, `You want to play this? You got to play for school first.' So
we did the deal. Eighteen months later I was in the Welsh international set-up."
So George played goal defence in the 1991 netball World Cup. But being her usual robust self, she also played in the women's rugby World Cup that same year for Wales. And completed her finals for her degree in Sports Science at the Cardiff Institute. "So it was a pretty hectic year," she said calmly. "But it was cool. It was the year I decided to give up netball. We'd come fourth in the world. That was as high as we were going to get. I needed a new challenge. I decided rugby was calling me. I had to go for it."
Full tilt, as usual. She moved to London, played for Richmond, despaired the Welsh set-up and caught the eye of England. "Karen Almond, the then England captain, approached me and said would I be interested? What with England? I laughed. They were awesome. I said, `I'm not good enough'."
She wasn't. A tall, skinny athlete, hugely physical but without the physique. She was super-sub throughout the 1994 World Cup in Scotland, but that was not good enough for her. So, shades of schooldays, she nobbled one of the coaches and said: "What do I have to do to be first-choice full-back?" He told her. She did it. "I spent all summer working so hard. I was given a programme of training and stuck to it. To the letter. I came back firing. I put on weight, I was faster, I was stronger and that was the beginning for me."
The end we do not yet know. But the middle is a captaincy, hugely prized by her coaches and team-mates for the ferocity of her commitment and athleticism. "She could have been a track athlete," reckons head coach Geoff Richards, a former English teacher who has coached extensively in Australia. "She is," he said simply, "fantastic."
Under George's leadership England have won two successive Grand Slams and enter the Women's Six Nations in February as furnace-like favourites. (For example, scores from 2001: Wales 0, England 18; England 28, Spain 12; England 39, Scotland 0; England 50, France 6.)
It might be nice if some of us noticed this year. Routinely, women's rugby is ignored media-wise, achieving recognition level even below women's football and cricket, if such a thing were possible. "What we've got to do is just keep going," said George, for whom no object is insurmountable as a matter of principle. "You're not going to stop us playing. And, if we keep winning, by the time I retire we'll be huge stars." She paused. "If I retire at 108."
It would help if the Rugby Football Union would let them play a curtain-raiser international at Twickenham. So far they won't. "It's silly, isn't it?" George said. "To have done it this year to raise awareness about the World Cup coming up in front of a good rugby crowd would have been awesome. Every time I see one of the England men or one of the boys coming out of the tunnel in their country's shirt, I think: we want to do that. We so want to do that. It's going to happen. We're not going away. It might as well happen now."
She is not strident. Just positive. By profession as well as personality. This very morning she had been teaching what she calls "Sports Psyche" to a group of A-level students at Vyners School in Ruislip. They were discussing what she calls "good aggression". The sort invaluable on the field. Not the sort that makes footballers get drunk, violent and vomit-splattered in public.
"Oh, I know," she said. "The one thing that really gets me is football. You don't have to be perfect to play sport at the top level, but you should be aware that people look up to you - especially little ones. I'm sure that, if I was coaching those footballers who behaved like that, they wouldn't be in my team."
This may not be as academic as it sounds. Her ambition, apart from lifting the World Cup this May, is to coach a men's team in the future if she proves good enough. "Because I can. Because it would be fun. Saracens, Wasps, right up through the England network. I wouldn't be happy with any old side."
Don't scoff. This is the woman who when teaching in Southall produced the first all-Asian women's contact rugby team. The mother who wrote in to complain received a letter straight back saying: `You let your child play hockey with a dangerous implement, in my opinion, and a really hard little ball." No more problem.
I wouldn't put anything past her. Especially not the New Zealand fly-half.
Daily Telegraph (London, England) (Jan 12, 2002): p07
A GIRL named George. That was an interesting start in itself. Then she took up rugby. What was she trying to do? Put herself beyond the pale of civilised society, with all that stomping and scrummaging and singing potentially unsuitable songs? A black Welsh girl from a disrupted home and prey to racism, she might have been wise to avoid descent into a pit of female inappropriateness in a gumshield, as the dear old chauvinists would have it. But they don't know Paula George.
She is a barrier breaker, the England women's rugby captain. She had a tough childhood, fought - sometimes literally - through it all to become a Welsh netball international, part of the team who came fourth in the 1991 World Cup. But it didn't quite do. She trained once with the women's rugby squad at the South Glamorgan Institute. That was it. Hooked.
"I didn't know I wanted to be a warrior until I tasted it. It was all a bit of a dare at the time. I thought I'd just do one rugby session and get it over, to prove that netball girls weren't soft. But, to my netball coach's horror, I loved it. It was my first taste of something I really wanted to do. Not the taste of blood, not quite. It just arouses passion in you that's awesome.
"I'm a very passionate person. If I do something I go full at it, 100 per cent. The feeling was of freedom. That's the exact word. How many women's sports do you know where you can actually run with the ball? You can do almost anything to get through the person in front of you. You can use everything God gave you. Speed, size, guile. You never quite got that in netball. Not to diss netball in any sense. It's just that rugby is such a cool sport, a secret the men kept for years and years and years, and now we've cracked it."
And her collarbone, in fact. But that is the only serious injury in a 10-year rugby career, for Wales and England, Richmond and Wasps, which has propelled her, at 33, to the very pinnacle of a burgeoning women's sport. Oh yes, I'm afraid so. When the World Cup in Barcelona is played in May, 16 teams including world champions New Zealand, Australia, Samoa, Spain, Scotland, the United States and Kazakhstan will be playing a brand of rugby that is not for the faint-hearted. Nor the sceptics.
You can say this categorically, having seen the video. Athleticism, commitment, professionalism are making their mark on a sport that was considered almost an affront to nature 20 years ago.
Emily Feltham, wing, screaming past the All Blacks defence to score the winning last- minute try last year in front of a crowd of 40,000 at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland. The first time New Zealand had been beaten in 10 years. George's tackle on Anna Richards, the New Zealand fly-half, which resembled the slamming of a reinforced steel door. Above all, George's face at the final whistle. "The greatest moment of my life," she said. Fists upraised, the roar of ecstasy, the tight white gumshield. It is a picture of belief rewarded.
That belief has been tungsten strong. It had to be. She was born in Wales and grew up in a little Mid-Glamorgan village, Kenfig Hill, near Bridgend. "There was five of us. I was the eldest. I had four sisters. Four white sisters, because I had a different dad to them. As a family we were all quite physical. We were all born a year apart and we used to have a lot of fights and that kind of stuff. But they could never beat me. They were always trying to pin me down. Always rough-housing. I thought that was quite normal.
"I was in a school of 1,600 kids. The only black ones were myself and a young Asian boy. That was quite difficult. I was pretty tough though. I handled it in a variety of ways. Admittedly, at first I used violence but I soon learnt alternatives. I had a very good English teacher who taught me the power of wit. Taught me words were a far more powerful weapon."
One concedes this but can imagine that 1,598 pupils were also aware of her previous left hook. Anyway, she survived and thrived. "I came to like school. I loved it, in fact. I liked the discipline. I worked really hard. Got good grades. I enjoyed achieving. If I didn't get the grade I wanted, I'd hunt the teacher down and say, `Why have I got a B? What have I got to do to get an A?' I think growing up as one of just two black kids in the school makes you know what you want."
Her home life, through all this, had been sub-divided and reconvened in many different ways. Her mother left home and fought a bitter custody battle for her daughters with George's step-father. He won but was subsequently injured in an open-cast mining accident and the girls were sent to a foster home in Caerphilly.
"I remember having my 12th birthday there," she said. "I can't remember my 13th." She desperately wanted to return to the village she knew and eventually did so, but failing relations with her stepfather led her to leaving home at the age of 15. She went to live with a local woman she called simply "Gran".
"She'd always known me. She wanted to look after me and I stayed with her all through my GCSEs and A-levels." It was there George discovered her favourite book, Great Expectations, which has a ring of symbolism about it. "It was the only book Gran ever had in the house, so I just read it over and over."
She has long since been reacquainted with her mother, who remarried and lives in Ireland. She is trying to trace the father she never knew through the American military.
Concurrent with this fairly eventful home and school life was sport. Enter Miss Avril Roper, the games teacher who George has never forgotten who one break time plucked her from the playground where she was always playing cricket or rugby or football with the lads. "I wasn't allowed to play in the school teams, so I just joined in the kickabouts. Miss Roper was the one who dragged me off to netball. I said, `I don't want to play that. It's too soft.' So she just hauled me off to watch an international match at Cardiff, Wales versus Australia I think it was. I said, `This is good. I want to play this.' She said, `You want to play this? You got to play for school first.' So
we did the deal. Eighteen months later I was in the Welsh international set-up."
So George played goal defence in the 1991 netball World Cup. But being her usual robust self, she also played in the women's rugby World Cup that same year for Wales. And completed her finals for her degree in Sports Science at the Cardiff Institute. "So it was a pretty hectic year," she said calmly. "But it was cool. It was the year I decided to give up netball. We'd come fourth in the world. That was as high as we were going to get. I needed a new challenge. I decided rugby was calling me. I had to go for it."
Full tilt, as usual. She moved to London, played for Richmond, despaired the Welsh set-up and caught the eye of England. "Karen Almond, the then England captain, approached me and said would I be interested? What with England? I laughed. They were awesome. I said, `I'm not good enough'."
She wasn't. A tall, skinny athlete, hugely physical but without the physique. She was super-sub throughout the 1994 World Cup in Scotland, but that was not good enough for her. So, shades of schooldays, she nobbled one of the coaches and said: "What do I have to do to be first-choice full-back?" He told her. She did it. "I spent all summer working so hard. I was given a programme of training and stuck to it. To the letter. I came back firing. I put on weight, I was faster, I was stronger and that was the beginning for me."
The end we do not yet know. But the middle is a captaincy, hugely prized by her coaches and team-mates for the ferocity of her commitment and athleticism. "She could have been a track athlete," reckons head coach Geoff Richards, a former English teacher who has coached extensively in Australia. "She is," he said simply, "fantastic."
Under George's leadership England have won two successive Grand Slams and enter the Women's Six Nations in February as furnace-like favourites. (For example, scores from 2001: Wales 0, England 18; England 28, Spain 12; England 39, Scotland 0; England 50, France 6.)
It might be nice if some of us noticed this year. Routinely, women's rugby is ignored media-wise, achieving recognition level even below women's football and cricket, if such a thing were possible. "What we've got to do is just keep going," said George, for whom no object is insurmountable as a matter of principle. "You're not going to stop us playing. And, if we keep winning, by the time I retire we'll be huge stars." She paused. "If I retire at 108."
It would help if the Rugby Football Union would let them play a curtain-raiser international at Twickenham. So far they won't. "It's silly, isn't it?" George said. "To have done it this year to raise awareness about the World Cup coming up in front of a good rugby crowd would have been awesome. Every time I see one of the England men or one of the boys coming out of the tunnel in their country's shirt, I think: we want to do that. We so want to do that. It's going to happen. We're not going away. It might as well happen now."
She is not strident. Just positive. By profession as well as personality. This very morning she had been teaching what she calls "Sports Psyche" to a group of A-level students at Vyners School in Ruislip. They were discussing what she calls "good aggression". The sort invaluable on the field. Not the sort that makes footballers get drunk, violent and vomit-splattered in public.
"Oh, I know," she said. "The one thing that really gets me is football. You don't have to be perfect to play sport at the top level, but you should be aware that people look up to you - especially little ones. I'm sure that, if I was coaching those footballers who behaved like that, they wouldn't be in my team."
This may not be as academic as it sounds. Her ambition, apart from lifting the World Cup this May, is to coach a men's team in the future if she proves good enough. "Because I can. Because it would be fun. Saracens, Wasps, right up through the England network. I wouldn't be happy with any old side."
Don't scoff. This is the woman who when teaching in Southall produced the first all-Asian women's contact rugby team. The mother who wrote in to complain received a letter straight back saying: `You let your child play hockey with a dangerous implement, in my opinion, and a really hard little ball." No more problem.
I wouldn't put anything past her. Especially not the New Zealand fly-half.
Daily Telegraph (London, England) (Jan 12, 2002): p07
Sunday, 17 June 2001
Historic win for women; Rugby Union
Marian Phillips
The New Zealand women's squad, unbeaten since 1991, are shattered by a thrilling late victory for England, reports Marian Phillips
A DRAMATIC late try in the last act of the match, scored by Emily Feltham after a 60-metre movement, gave the England women's team victory over New Zealand and a 1-1 share of the Test series in Albany, New Zealand, yesterday.
The New Zealand Black Ferns have been dominant in the women's international game of late, were unbeaten since 1991 and are holders of the World Cup. Their semi-professional squad is revered in New Zealand and only two years ago they defeated England by 67-0 and 44-11.
However, England had given notice of their own improvement by winning the recent series against Australia by two Tests to nil and by running New Zealand close in the first Test, played last week. Yesterday's match, played as a curtain-raiser to the New Zealand-Manu Samoa match, was one of the finest in the history of the women's international game.
New Zealand led 12-8 at half-time, with England's only try of the first half coming from Nicky Crawford, the Worcester wing. A superb try by Shelley Rae, the fly-half, gave England the lead at 15-12 in the second half but New Zealand struck back with a try and maintained their 17-15 lead until well into stoppage time. England's last attack was begun out of deep defence and carried on through several phases until Paula George, the England full-back and captain, sent Feltham over for the try that won the match.
"The key was our self-belief," said Geoff Richards, the England head coach. "New Zealand's record is frighteningly good but we had selfconfidence in our squad. It is probably the high point of women's rugby in England. It was a great match and I am delighted for the players."
The victory represents comforting news for those who follow the women's game who felt that New Zealand's domination had become so absolute as to be potentially ruinous. The England squad have benefited from one of Sport England's World Class Performance grants which has allowed the players funding for training and other equipment and enabled some players to become part-time professionals. Many of the England squad are accomplished sportswomen who have reached high levels in other sports and who have opted for rugby to take part in the boom in the women's game that has taken place in the past decade.
Carol Isherwood, the Rugby Football Union for Women's performance director, said: "This victory is a triumph for all our efforts and for the concept of grant-aiding of elite teams. Hopefully, it will put us on the map as far as New Zealand are concerned because some people here found it difficult to accept that we might be contenders. Hopefully, it will give the women's game at international and domestic level more impetus."
Prospects for the England squad are good, since the tour party contained a large number of promising newcomers. But for long-suffering fans in the northern hemisphere who have grown up with the notion of New Zealand superiority in the men's and women's game, the news from New Zealand is that the Kiwis, after a 22-17 defeat, had been roasted.
Meanwhile, Nicola Ponsford, a leading player and administrator in the women's game, received an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
Sunday Times (London, England) (June 17, 2001): p5
The New Zealand women's squad, unbeaten since 1991, are shattered by a thrilling late victory for England, reports Marian Phillips
A DRAMATIC late try in the last act of the match, scored by Emily Feltham after a 60-metre movement, gave the England women's team victory over New Zealand and a 1-1 share of the Test series in Albany, New Zealand, yesterday.
The New Zealand Black Ferns have been dominant in the women's international game of late, were unbeaten since 1991 and are holders of the World Cup. Their semi-professional squad is revered in New Zealand and only two years ago they defeated England by 67-0 and 44-11.
However, England had given notice of their own improvement by winning the recent series against Australia by two Tests to nil and by running New Zealand close in the first Test, played last week. Yesterday's match, played as a curtain-raiser to the New Zealand-Manu Samoa match, was one of the finest in the history of the women's international game.
New Zealand led 12-8 at half-time, with England's only try of the first half coming from Nicky Crawford, the Worcester wing. A superb try by Shelley Rae, the fly-half, gave England the lead at 15-12 in the second half but New Zealand struck back with a try and maintained their 17-15 lead until well into stoppage time. England's last attack was begun out of deep defence and carried on through several phases until Paula George, the England full-back and captain, sent Feltham over for the try that won the match.
"The key was our self-belief," said Geoff Richards, the England head coach. "New Zealand's record is frighteningly good but we had selfconfidence in our squad. It is probably the high point of women's rugby in England. It was a great match and I am delighted for the players."
The victory represents comforting news for those who follow the women's game who felt that New Zealand's domination had become so absolute as to be potentially ruinous. The England squad have benefited from one of Sport England's World Class Performance grants which has allowed the players funding for training and other equipment and enabled some players to become part-time professionals. Many of the England squad are accomplished sportswomen who have reached high levels in other sports and who have opted for rugby to take part in the boom in the women's game that has taken place in the past decade.
Carol Isherwood, the Rugby Football Union for Women's performance director, said: "This victory is a triumph for all our efforts and for the concept of grant-aiding of elite teams. Hopefully, it will put us on the map as far as New Zealand are concerned because some people here found it difficult to accept that we might be contenders. Hopefully, it will give the women's game at international and domestic level more impetus."
Prospects for the England squad are good, since the tour party contained a large number of promising newcomers. But for long-suffering fans in the northern hemisphere who have grown up with the notion of New Zealand superiority in the men's and women's game, the news from New Zealand is that the Kiwis, after a 22-17 defeat, had been roasted.
Meanwhile, Nicola Ponsford, a leading player and administrator in the women's game, received an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
Sunday Times (London, England) (June 17, 2001): p5
Wednesday, 16 May 2001
Scotland European champions
Scotland crowned European champions; Rugby Union
Lewis Stuart
SCOTLAND are champions of Europe in at least one sport. The women's rugby team carried off the trophy, beating Spain 15-3 on Saturday in the final in Lille, France, emerging from the competition without conceding a try.
After the nailbiting semifinal win over France, the previous holders, the final was a less tense affair, with the Scots taking an early lead as Jenny Dickson, the wing, slid round the blind side of a ruck to go over, and they extended it with Rimma Petlevannaya, the centre, battering her way to the line.
Paula Chalmers, the scrum half, who won the player of the tournament award, added a conversion and a late penalty, and although the Spanish threw everything into rescuing the game, the Scotland defence held firm.
"It was a tight match but we dominated the field position for most of the game and stuck it out to the end," Chalmers said yesterday. "We came on a mission to win and achieved just that. When the Spanish did manage to attack, they met a wall of blue that shut them out."
Apart from the heady enthusiasm at their triumph, there was also a considerable amount of satisfaction that they had proved a point to the managers of the National Lottery, who stopped funding for the side last year.
"Fortunately, the Scottish Rugby Union stepped in with aid, otherwise this would not have been possible," Chalmers said. "This is going to raise the profile of the women's game in Scotland a huge amount, and it gives us something to show the girls when they come to the summer camps, to show what can be achieved."
Rosy Hume, the team manager, said the key to the triumph had been, the link around the half backs, Chalmers and Denise Fairbairn, along with Jenni Sheerin, the no 8, the first woman to win 50 rugby caps for Scotland.
"Throughout the tournament, the defence, which had been a weakness in the past, was superb," Hume said. "We only conceded 12 points, all through kicks, and our discipline was also spot on with the team giving away very few penalties.
"The girls worked really hard for this. We came feeling we could win and although the heat in the final was formidable, we stuck to the task to come through in the end."
The real question is whether, having succeeded where the men failed, in capturing the European crown, the women's game in Scotland can use the victory to expand its profile ahead of the women's World Cup next year and the numbers taking part.
"I would hope that on the back of this, the lottery assistance will restart so that we can mount a strong challenge at the world cup," Hume said. "We need to start being able to bring the London-based players up for regular training sessions and organising weekends together."
Scotland do not win many European titles in any sport, so they are determined this triumph for women's rugby will be the foundation for an upsurge in interest in their sport.
The Times (London, England) (May 14, 2001): p5
Rugby's champion belles of the ball.
JONATHAN BROCKLEBANK
OUR rugby team performed abysmally in the Six Nations Championship and the footballers are struggling to qualify for the World Cup in 2002.
But in one fast-growing field of sporting endeavour, the Scots really can hold their heads up high - women's rugby.
Remarkably, the Scotland first XV, including three police officers, two nurses, a PE teacher, a sales representative and an insurance broker, have just been crowned European champions.
But lurking under all the talk of line-outs and scrum downs lie the more familiar women's concerns such as makeup, clubbing and boyfriends.
Flanker Fiona Gillanders admitted the women spend much longer doing their hair and makeup after the match than their male counterparts.
'It is something we are actively encouraging because we know we are role models. We enjoy looking smart and feminine - guys certainly like it. The image has changed and men now like to see feminine women with great bodies.
They run to us now, rather than run away.' Boyfriends watch their matches as often as they can and both sexes mix sociably in the post-match drinking sessions, in which the ladies always hold their own.
But Miss Gillanders admits that while they may look more feminine off the pitch, once they don the studs and get on the pitch they are every bit as aggressive as the men - gouging, scratching, kicking are all par for the course in the mauls, while punch-ups are not unusual.
One ploy which is used in the female game - less common in the men's - is pulling ponytails in a last-ditch attempt to stop opponents crossing the line.
Miss Gillanders laughed: 'If it's there to be pulled, then it will be as long as it stops the opponent scoring. It is a trick used by every women's rugby team.'
The Daily Mail (London, England) (May 15, 2001): p27
Sexy Denise is maul woman; SHE'S A RUGBY BABE
MAGGIE BARRY
MOST women normally associate mud on their faces with beauty treatment.
But for a group of Scots it is the ultimate way to spend a Saturday afternoon - lying in it face down.
They are Scotland's women's rugby team, and they have just put one over their male counterparts by winning a major trophy.
They have rucked and mauled with the best of them, slaughtering - among others - top-scoring France and Spain, in the European Championships.
They carried off the honours in Lille, France, at the weekend, putting Scotland right at the very top of women's international rugby.
But while the mud that spatters them usually comes from the gritty turf of the rugby pitch, Denise Fairburn is a perfect example of how they can scrub up well off the pitch.
Stunning Denise, 29, hopes the team's success can inspire young girls into the game.
She said: "I am a PE teacher and I would encourage any young girls to play rugby - it's a great game.
"I usually play on the wing because I am only 9st so I don't get a lot of contact.
"For the final I played at stand-off but once you explain to girls how to make contact safe they really enjoy playing rugby.
"It's also a game in which I found I improved very quickly and that's always heartening."
Flanker Fiona Gillanders admits the team likes to spend plenty of time after a match putting on their make-up and getting their hair right.
She said: "It's something we are actively encouraging because we know we are role models. We enjoy looking smart and feminine.
"Times have changed and men now like to see feminine women with great bodies.
"They run to us now rather than run away."
The women's team lost their lottery funding last year - ironically for not being successful enough. That means they have had to compete all year against sponsored and paid-to-play teams.
But that has made Scotland's success all the sweeter.
Flanker Beth McLeod, 26, who has 34 caps, said: "We had a very hard game in the tournament against France in very hot weather.
"Then we met Spain in the final in even more extreme weather conditions.
"But the result was 15-3 to Scotland and the girls were just ecstatic. The atmosphere afterwards was terrific. We were all very excited."
Beth went on: "Rugby is just great fun and there's good social life too.
"The women's team and the men's teams usually meet up for drinks afterwards.
"We really enjoy ourselves."
CAPTION(S):
HIGH KICKS: Denise Fairburn, pictured, left, in a glamourous dress and, above, in her training gear, fired Scotland to victory with crucial kicks; WING QUEEN: Star Angela Hutt glides past a Spanish player during Scotland's victory; GLAMOUROUS: But pretty Rimma Petlevannaya loves the rough and tumble of rugby; FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND: The team celebrates European success; SWEET VICTORY : Fiona Shepherd, Beth McLeod and Rimma Petlevannaya with the trophy
The Mirror (London, England) (May 16, 2001): p12
Lewis Stuart
SCOTLAND are champions of Europe in at least one sport. The women's rugby team carried off the trophy, beating Spain 15-3 on Saturday in the final in Lille, France, emerging from the competition without conceding a try.
After the nailbiting semifinal win over France, the previous holders, the final was a less tense affair, with the Scots taking an early lead as Jenny Dickson, the wing, slid round the blind side of a ruck to go over, and they extended it with Rimma Petlevannaya, the centre, battering her way to the line.
Paula Chalmers, the scrum half, who won the player of the tournament award, added a conversion and a late penalty, and although the Spanish threw everything into rescuing the game, the Scotland defence held firm.
"It was a tight match but we dominated the field position for most of the game and stuck it out to the end," Chalmers said yesterday. "We came on a mission to win and achieved just that. When the Spanish did manage to attack, they met a wall of blue that shut them out."
Apart from the heady enthusiasm at their triumph, there was also a considerable amount of satisfaction that they had proved a point to the managers of the National Lottery, who stopped funding for the side last year.
"Fortunately, the Scottish Rugby Union stepped in with aid, otherwise this would not have been possible," Chalmers said. "This is going to raise the profile of the women's game in Scotland a huge amount, and it gives us something to show the girls when they come to the summer camps, to show what can be achieved."
Rosy Hume, the team manager, said the key to the triumph had been, the link around the half backs, Chalmers and Denise Fairbairn, along with Jenni Sheerin, the no 8, the first woman to win 50 rugby caps for Scotland.
"Throughout the tournament, the defence, which had been a weakness in the past, was superb," Hume said. "We only conceded 12 points, all through kicks, and our discipline was also spot on with the team giving away very few penalties.
"The girls worked really hard for this. We came feeling we could win and although the heat in the final was formidable, we stuck to the task to come through in the end."
The real question is whether, having succeeded where the men failed, in capturing the European crown, the women's game in Scotland can use the victory to expand its profile ahead of the women's World Cup next year and the numbers taking part.
"I would hope that on the back of this, the lottery assistance will restart so that we can mount a strong challenge at the world cup," Hume said. "We need to start being able to bring the London-based players up for regular training sessions and organising weekends together."
Scotland do not win many European titles in any sport, so they are determined this triumph for women's rugby will be the foundation for an upsurge in interest in their sport.
The Times (London, England) (May 14, 2001): p5
Rugby's champion belles of the ball.
JONATHAN BROCKLEBANK
OUR rugby team performed abysmally in the Six Nations Championship and the footballers are struggling to qualify for the World Cup in 2002.
But in one fast-growing field of sporting endeavour, the Scots really can hold their heads up high - women's rugby.
Remarkably, the Scotland first XV, including three police officers, two nurses, a PE teacher, a sales representative and an insurance broker, have just been crowned European champions.
But lurking under all the talk of line-outs and scrum downs lie the more familiar women's concerns such as makeup, clubbing and boyfriends.
Flanker Fiona Gillanders admitted the women spend much longer doing their hair and makeup after the match than their male counterparts.
'It is something we are actively encouraging because we know we are role models. We enjoy looking smart and feminine - guys certainly like it. The image has changed and men now like to see feminine women with great bodies.
They run to us now, rather than run away.' Boyfriends watch their matches as often as they can and both sexes mix sociably in the post-match drinking sessions, in which the ladies always hold their own.
But Miss Gillanders admits that while they may look more feminine off the pitch, once they don the studs and get on the pitch they are every bit as aggressive as the men - gouging, scratching, kicking are all par for the course in the mauls, while punch-ups are not unusual.
One ploy which is used in the female game - less common in the men's - is pulling ponytails in a last-ditch attempt to stop opponents crossing the line.
Miss Gillanders laughed: 'If it's there to be pulled, then it will be as long as it stops the opponent scoring. It is a trick used by every women's rugby team.'
The Daily Mail (London, England) (May 15, 2001): p27
Sexy Denise is maul woman; SHE'S A RUGBY BABE
MAGGIE BARRY
MOST women normally associate mud on their faces with beauty treatment.
But for a group of Scots it is the ultimate way to spend a Saturday afternoon - lying in it face down.
They are Scotland's women's rugby team, and they have just put one over their male counterparts by winning a major trophy.
They have rucked and mauled with the best of them, slaughtering - among others - top-scoring France and Spain, in the European Championships.
They carried off the honours in Lille, France, at the weekend, putting Scotland right at the very top of women's international rugby.
But while the mud that spatters them usually comes from the gritty turf of the rugby pitch, Denise Fairburn is a perfect example of how they can scrub up well off the pitch.
Stunning Denise, 29, hopes the team's success can inspire young girls into the game.
She said: "I am a PE teacher and I would encourage any young girls to play rugby - it's a great game.
"I usually play on the wing because I am only 9st so I don't get a lot of contact.
"For the final I played at stand-off but once you explain to girls how to make contact safe they really enjoy playing rugby.
"It's also a game in which I found I improved very quickly and that's always heartening."
Flanker Fiona Gillanders admits the team likes to spend plenty of time after a match putting on their make-up and getting their hair right.
She said: "It's something we are actively encouraging because we know we are role models. We enjoy looking smart and feminine.
"Times have changed and men now like to see feminine women with great bodies.
"They run to us now rather than run away."
The women's team lost their lottery funding last year - ironically for not being successful enough. That means they have had to compete all year against sponsored and paid-to-play teams.
But that has made Scotland's success all the sweeter.
Flanker Beth McLeod, 26, who has 34 caps, said: "We had a very hard game in the tournament against France in very hot weather.
"Then we met Spain in the final in even more extreme weather conditions.
"But the result was 15-3 to Scotland and the girls were just ecstatic. The atmosphere afterwards was terrific. We were all very excited."
Beth went on: "Rugby is just great fun and there's good social life too.
"The women's team and the men's teams usually meet up for drinks afterwards.
"We really enjoy ourselves."
CAPTION(S):
HIGH KICKS: Denise Fairburn, pictured, left, in a glamourous dress and, above, in her training gear, fired Scotland to victory with crucial kicks; WING QUEEN: Star Angela Hutt glides past a Spanish player during Scotland's victory; GLAMOUROUS: But pretty Rimma Petlevannaya loves the rough and tumble of rugby; FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND: The team celebrates European success; SWEET VICTORY : Fiona Shepherd, Beth McLeod and Rimma Petlevannaya with the trophy
The Mirror (London, England) (May 16, 2001): p12
Sunday, 13 May 2001
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
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
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