Shropshire girls having a ball in rugby

It was an occasion where the score was completely irrelevant, as the youngsters stepped out in a three-team get-together with Worcester and Drybrook alongside the Worcester Warriors main ground at Sixways.

After being together for just five weeks, taking part was a win-win situation for the man behind the drive to set up the only under-18 girls team in the county – Simon Northcott.

Northcott, who lives in Bridgnorth and used to play for the town's thriving club, is as a social inclusion officer for Worcester Warriors.

He works on various projects across Shropshire and first got the idea about forming a side after learning of the frustration from a group of rugby-made girls in Telford.

He said: "I embarked on this project at the beginning of this season based at Telford, where a group of girls got together and patiently trained each week.

"Their frustration grew as numbers weren't quite high enough to play matches.

"I scoured the county and found that numerous clubs had girls at the under-18 age group but, again, not enough to form a side.

"After much wrangling and persuasion, the girls in this age bracket all came together five weeks ago.

"Rugby in the county is probably at its strongest but girls participation is still relatively low, especially in the 15-18-year bracket.

"Ultimately, the aim is to spread the rugby family into Shropshire. This is the first under-18 girls side in the county. It's a wide open area not to have a female rugby side at that age group.

"Even though we lost the games, it was a massive success. The biggest winner of the day was seeing them turn out for the first ever Shropshire girls under-18 team.

"It's an achievement not wasted on the girls who were all incredibly and rightly proud of themselves.

"This was the girls' first taste of competitive rugby and we were playing against girls who were two or three years older and who were stronger physically.

"We scored a couple of tries and the girls tackled their hearts out and earned plaudits from their opponents for their commitment and ability. It was great to see."

Northcott has been hugely impressed with the commitment from his squad, which now boasts 23 players, and he is already planning for the future.

The squad train at Shrewsbury Rugby Club on Tuesday's with players travelling from all over the county.

Northcott added: "We just plucked out the name Shropshire simply because all the girls live in the county.

"The commitment has been fantastic. Shropshire is a big area and we have girls travelling from Oswestry, Ludlow and Bridgnorth. There is a true county split.

"The response has been better than I expected and the girls have been brilliant.

"The plan is to play more friendlies next season because I don't think we are in the position to play league rugby yet, although I will probably enter us in a cup competition."

Emma Henighan captains the side and is excited by how the project has taken off.

She said: "I think it's amazing how the girls and I have managed to gel in such a short space of time and every week we are growing stronger due to the passion we all have for the sport.

"I started rugby through a workshop at school and I absolutely loved it.

"When I began with the team, there were only a few people there yet the team grows in numbers every week due to how welcoming every single person is.

"Training is such good fun and if anyone were thinking of joining they would be welcomed with open arms."

Northcott is keen to increase playing numbers and taste more competitive action.

He said: "It would be great to play once a month while things are building up, but who knows how far this could go the future.

"Most of the girls are around 15 and 16 so they have got two of three years left in the under-18 age group. We have 23 in the squad at the minute and it would be great to to get it up to around 40."

Anyone interested in joining the squad should contact Simon Northcott on 07809 676 008 or email Simon.northcott@warriors.co.uk.

Training takes place Tuesday evenings at Shrewsbury Rugby Club between 6pm and 7.30pm.