Women's Rugby growth the highlight of a positive season

By Lucy Hall, UBWRFC Club Captain

UBWRFC have seen their greatest and most formative year yet, laying strong foundations for things to come and trialling our ambitious plans to improve our club.

We saw 30 members travel back to Bristol for our four-week preseason where we had rugby training, strength and conditioning and socials to keep us interested and to bring us back together after the long summer. We’re looking forward to another month of rugby at the end of summer this year.

Our 1s anticipated a tough year in the Southern Premiership but our hard work saw us finish fourth - our highest position ever! Moreover, we were contending for wins against our toughest rivals: Exeter, Hartpury and Cardiff Met.

We have finished eighth in the UK, narrowly missing out on being a part of the National League, but be assured we will be there in the next three years.

Our 2s have achieved so much following their promotion last year, finishing fourth in their division. This means next year we are ready for them to push for a top three finish and then eventually another promotion! They also defeated UWE 1s on Varsity Day which was a long awaited victory and celebrated accordingly.

Our brand new 3s have been the biggest change and biggest success in our club this year; complete beginners learning the game and playing quality rugby. They completed their first season and were competitive in each game. The smiles on their faces more than made up for the losses they faced.

UBWRFC also came third in an international rugby sevens tournament in Leeds.

We are incredibly proud of everything we have achieved this year. We have held charity pub quizzes, skipped for ten hours for Ignition, and are already in training for the charity Waterpolo tournament later this term.

We have been hugely involved in the #WeAreBristol community especially through intramural netball. The Rugby Rhinos were only formed this year and already we have come second in the top league.

We also now have more non-alcoholic socials on offer. Our girls have been ice-skating, to Pen-Y-Fan, movie nights, brunches and more Bristol Bears games than we can throw a rugby ball at.

As the term winds down, we are sad to say goodbye to some of our star players. We wave a fond farewell to Lucy Attwood who has ignited and inspired our club daily by being award Player of the Season by Bristol Bears and by being capped by England Senior Ladies. We wish her the best of luck and we hope to see even more women taking up Women’s Rugby next year.

Featured image by UBWRFC

Let us know your thoughts on UBWRFC's season!

Facebook // Epigram Sport // Epigram Twitter