Excitement is building at Medway RFC ahead of the start of the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
Priestfields will be buzzing tomorrow night (Friday) when the Red Roses start their 2025 World Cup challenge against the USA (7.30pm) at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland.
Boasting the largest girls’ section in the country, Medway has played a big part in the women’s game over the years, with former player Rachael Burford part of England’s 2014 World Cup-winning team.
Medway have under-20 England internationals knocking on the door of the senior team, and with over 100 girls registered with the club, there are plenty of youngsters hoping to be the next big thing, following on from the likes of World Cup finalist Shaunagh Brown and Scotland’s former international Deborah McCormack.
Richard Warran is the chair of girls’ rugby at the club, and he hopes the upcoming World Cup can give the sport another boost, to further help the growth.
He said: “The key thing is that we build upon this, like we saw with the women’s football, who gained an increase in participation. Rugby needs to do the same.
“Our growth started quite a few years ago, in a similar vein, and when people see England doing well against international teams they’ll think ‘I want to try that’ and we have a few schools that want to try T1 rugby, a touch version.
“We’re still currently the largest girls’ section in the country. We’ve come from really small numbers, from about five girls, and now we are well over 100, with four teams, under-12s, 14s, 16s and 18s.”
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Like many coaches, Warran started off at Medway after his kids showed an interest in the sport he’d previously played. From coaching he worked his way through the club’s committee to where he is now.
He said: “Girls pick things up very quickly, you don’t have to repeat too much, you can let them problem solve and I really enjoyed it.
“I worked with Matt Kuhn (director of women’s rugby) very closely and he stepped back and I stepped in. I’m here now, we’ve got the largest girls’ section but for us it’s not just about that, it’s about making sure the girls embrace rugby and take their experience forward in life.
“I think doing a team sport activity teaches really good values for life and they go and move on with some good foundations.”
Medway have produced top talent over the years, with Burford, Brown and McCormack among the standouts.
There’s more young talent on the way through, with Abigail Pritchard, Amelia Williams and Jaz Adonri all representing England at under-20 level.
Warran said: “We’re a small cog in the big wheel of churning out future talent and it’s exciting to see that.
“In Kent, we are really strong with the girls sides. I work within the under-16/18 setup and we are running about 12 teams, which is really good, and they are competitive.
“We are not drawing all the girls to one club, they are distributed across the county.
“Medway is the biggest, we have got other teams hot on our heels which drives us harder and faster and it is good to have that community of girls’ rugby and schools are starting to see that too.”
Players at Medway are back for pre-season and with the World Cup on the horizon the club are planning a number of additional events. They’ve also produced a commemorative shirt for the occasion.
The Girl Guides are due to attend a couple of training sessions as they are working towards a special rugby badge while on the Friday of the opening game there is a women’s touch rugby event taking place. Kings School are also attending later for a match on the first-team pitch.
England have lost five of the last six World Cup finals against New Zealand, bucking the trend with their 2014 success against Canada, to briefly break the dominance of the Black Ferns.
The Red Roses head into this summer’s tournament in superb form, on a 27-game winning streak, their last a 40-6 away victory against France last weekend.
The club bar at Medway should be busy and Rachael Burford’s mum may well be there serving the drinks, as the family are still heavily involved at the club.
One of the club’s main backers is Specsavers, who have branches in Chatham, Gillingham, Strood and Hempstead Valley.
Retail director Craig Holland hopes the World Cup can be an inspiration for others.
He said: “We are proud to sponsor Medway Rugby Football Club because of their family approach to the game of rugby and their support of the wider community.
“Specsavers’ Medway stores are locally owned and we sponsor the club to help them carry on the great work they have done so far.
“MRFC have a fantastic women’s and girls division that has helped develop players who represent their country at international levels including at Women’s Rugby World Cups.
“We’re hoping the World Cup inspires more local women and girls to come along and give rugby a try. Who knows maybe they will be rugby stars of the future.”
England follow up their first pool game against USA with games against Samoa in Northampton (Saturday, August 30 – 5pm) and Australia at Brighton (Saturday, September 6 – 5pm).
