Positive start to the season for Women’s Rugby

With the graduation of so many of our senior girls last year, this season was always going to be about rebuilding and bringing new players into the squad. With that in mind we thought it important to get a new coach. We were pleased that we hired Stewart Mcguire who, with age grade international caps for Wales and Ireland and currently playing for London Scottish, has brought enthusiasm and a lot of fun to training.

To our delight we had a great turnout to our taster session with over 30 new faces giving rugby a try. In the sunshine at Harlington everyone seemed to be getting really stuck in and enjoying the basis of the game. This was followed by a BBQ where new and old faces chatted and got to know each other.

Our first match of the season came along two weeks later against Royal Veterinary College in LUSL. Being undefeated in LUSL last year put a bit of pressure on the new girls who were still getting to grips with the game. However, after some good training under their belts, nine new players felt confident enough to play their first match for IC.

People were clearly nervous in the first ten minutes or so with a few dropped passes and minor errors. The first try of the season went to debutante Emily Moran playing in the centre, who after some strong rucking by the forwards and some quick ball broke through the line to score. This seemed to settle the nerves for IC and balls started to go to hand more. This gave our Gaelic football convert Eimear Nolan the chance to show off her skills scoring twice more in quick succession. Towards the end of the first half we were camped on their line again but they had the put into the scrum after a knock on. With the scrum going well, one went against the head which enabled our number 8, Charlie Stephens, to rumble over from a few meters, leaving the half time score 22-0.

The second half gave us the opportunity to bring on even more new girls and move people around in their positions a bit. This provided them with great experience and enabled people to find out where their best position would be. In the first 20 minutes of the second half, RVC upped their intensity, with no-one gaining much superiority in any aspect of the game. However, one sloppy kick from their number 10 gave our full back, Sammy Ardi, the chance to counter with a searing run through their disorganised defence to score under the posts and break the second half sale mate. They hit back and after a couple of missed tackles from IC they too were under the posts, leaving the final score 27-7 to us. Back of the match went to Eimear Nolan, after her two superb tries especially given it was her first ever game, with forward of the match going to Charlie Stephens.

With barely time for the bruises to fade from our first match, we faced UCL three days later for the start of our BUCS campaign. Confidence was still high after RVC, meaning even more girls were eager to get stuck into their first game, and we were able to take a full squad of 22 for the first time in years!

We started reasonably well with Frederike Jaeger scoring the first try of the match with us dominating territory and possession.

Unfortunately we were struck by injuries to key players with our number 10, 12 and 13 all going off within the first 25 minutes, meaning we had to completely change our back line, putting people out of position and bringing new girls in earlier than we would have expected. We competed well upfront and won nearly every scrum regardless of who put the ball in, meaning we were still on top with the territory and possession.

Handling errors and turnovers seemed to be our nemesis and when they got it to their back line their experience showed with their 13 and 14 both scoring twice, with their 11 and 10 having a try each. We managed to hit back, firstly through our captain Kath Fok, who saw they were slow to re-organise their defensive line after a penalty. She tapped quickly and ran half the length of the pitch to score again for IC.

Our final score of the match went to Charlie who picked and went off the back of some solid rucking, making the final score 36-21 to UCL. Back of the match went to Hannah Scott, who ended up playing nearly every position in the back line at some point, but handled it really well, with forward of the match going to Charlie.

All in all, even with the disappointment of the UCL match, it has been a good start to the season for women’s rugby. The defence of our LUSL title has started well and we are confident that, with a bit more luck on our side, we will be able to take the next game against UCL when we play them in January.

Our next match sees us taking on the unknown of St. Marys in BUCS, where we hope to put the loss of UCL behind us.

We always welcome new players at any point in the term, whether you have played before or not.

So if you fancy giving women’s rugby a go email Mona our club president (mona.hussein10@imperial.ac.uk) for more details.