Leicester Tigers 'start journey' with first Welford Road fixture

Leicester Tigers are one of five Premiership teams to not have a women's side in the Premier 15s

Leicester Tigers are "at the start of a journey" after playing their first game at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, according to Vicky Macqueen.

The ex-England full-back is head of the Tigers women's and girls' programme, which was set up in the summer.

Their match against Edinburgh University ended in a 26-17 defeat.

"We wanted to see what the girls could do. We had no idea where our starting point was. Now we know where we're at," Macqueen told BBC Radio Leicester.

The programme has been created in a merger with Lichfield Rugby Club and the team hopes to play in Championship North 1 next year, with a view to possibly applying for a licence to play in the top-tier Premier 15s in 2023.

Former England full-back Vicky Macqueen earned 34 caps for her country over a five-year spell

"We've got 80 to 90 players that have trained at Lichfield over the last three or four months, we've got an open trial coming up on 24 November and we are just looking to breed local talent, this is just feeding that pathway," said Macqueen.

"The club are 100% behind us. [Head coach] Steve Borthwick is absolutely on board with the women's programme and we need that, it's one club here. Now we've got a starting point and need to keep continuing to build."

Becky Noon and Sophie Todd scored tries against Edinburgh for Tigers, who were also awarded a penalty try.

Macqueen said: "We handled the game really well. We were winning the physical battle up front. I think we could have won the game. We were so close in the corner a couple of times, we got a penalty try and could have potentially had another, so the opportunities were there."

She added: "They are all amateurs. Premier experience is there with a few players but generally it's Championship level or below, and we are just looking to reach out to people.

"The plan is to better ourselves all the time, to find more players, to put some systems in place and start building towards next season. We've got four invitation games this year and then we move on and we get a proper side next year.

"This is just to prove that we've got a player base, that we can do it. We're putting Leicestershire back on the map and Tigers are the big machine behind that."