Red Roses inspire club's first women's rugby team

The team already has a couple of potential Red Roses, its head coach said

A women's rugby team inspired by England's Red Roses has been "breaking ground" as the first in the club's 150-year history, its head coach has said.

Bromsgrove RFC's newly-formed women's section played its first game earlier this month, with sessions for both women and girls.

Head coach of the women and girl's section Jennifer Taylor said the new teams had been inspired by England, which plays Canada in the Women's Rugby World Cup final on Saturday at Twickenham.

"What an inspiration they are," she said, "and I feel like we've got a couple of potential Red Roses for the future as well."

The Worcestershire club has set up a women's squad, and under-12s and over-12s teams, and in 12 weeks has seen the field full for training sessions.

"They were hiding in the middle of Bromsgrove and we managed to dig them out," Ms Taylor said.

"It's been so inspirational having our women and girls come to Bromsgrove and join us for this - quite momentous for the club actually, because in their 150 years of being here, we are the first women and girls section, so we are breaking ground."

Jennifer Taylor said the new section was "momentous" for the club

The women's section, nicknamed the Galts, or female wild boar, because the men's section are known as the Boars, played their first fixture against Bourneville this month.

Louise Rollings said it was "amazing" to be part of a club supporting women and girls.

She had never played rugby before and described it as "a bit of a shock", but added: "I'm absolutely loving it."

She said the best bit was meeting new people, being supported, and being able to learn, while the hard part was getting to grips with the rules.

Louise Rollings and Ashleigh Turner have both joined the women's team

Ashleigh Turner, who played in school, said: "Bromsgrove women were waiting for a women's team to come for a long time.

"It's so good this lovely bunch of ladies have all come together and we're really enjoying it."

A big supporter of the Roses, Ms Turner added: "Hopefully, the women will win this weekend."