Last Sunday saw ladies coach Emily Hunter coach her last game for Rovers Ladies. Emily has been an integral part of our journey over the past 6 years. After the success of our girl’s teams, we took the plunge to form a ladies team. Emily came along to our first Inner Warrior as a representative DMP Sharks and she soon got on board coaching. In that time, she has helped develop our Ladies team and leaves them in a strong position.

However, as one chapter ends another begins.

We are pleased to announce a new coaching team for Rovers ladies. John Padget will take over as head coach for our ladies. John has a wealth of playing and coaching experience and has recently been coaching our under 18 girls. John will be assisted by 1st team captain Steven Barnfield, 1st team winger James Keers, Phil Nicholson, and Mick Hanley. They will all be kept in check by team manager Debbie Jarvis.

It is an exciting line up and a large team to help grow and develop our ladies with the aim of having 2 ladies teams by the end of season 2022.

John, James, and Steven will also be coaching the under 18 girls. Between the large coaching team this is manageable and the aim is to make the transition from junior to senior rugby seamless.

Moving down the age groups Glenn will move to u15s assisted on match days by Phil, and Darren will be coaching the u13s once again.

Darren Smith will continue as head of the Womens and Girls Programme at Hartlepool Rovers and Danielle Coulton will continue to sit on the club Committee to be that link with management.

Season 2021/22 will see the launch of our first ever under 11 girls only team. This will be for girls in year 6. This team will compliment girls who are already playing mixed sex under 11 rugby and also somewhere for new players to join. The thoughts behind this is that it acts as a transition for those girls playing mixed sex rugby ready for when the move to year 7 and begin female only rugby. For girls who play mixed sex rugby that will continue to be your priority and this team will not interfere with that. We will train at different times and will look for games only when it does not clash with your current commitments. More about this team will be published soon.

It is an exciting time for WaGs at Rovers with lots of events planned over the next 12 months. Today sees the release of fixtures for our ladies who will once again play in Women’s NC 1 North (level 4). The first games get under way on Sunday 26th September when the ladies welcome Kendal Wasps.

Fixtures:
26/09/2021 Kendal (h)
10/10/2021 York (a)
24/10/2021 Novos II (h)
7/11/2021 Carlisle (a)
5/12/2021 Sunderland (a)
19/12/2021 Driffield (h)
9/01/2022 York (h)
23/01/2022 Novos II (a)
06/02/2022 Carlise (h)
06/03/2022 Sunderland (h)
20/03/2022 Driffield (a)
03/04/2022 Kendal (a)

There is no better time to get involved with women’s and girls rugby at Rovers. Our women, 17 year old and over, train each Wednesday at 6.30pm and our girls, year 6 to year 12, every Thursday at 6.00pm and Sundays at 12.00 noon. We welcome all abilities. It does not matter if you have never played before or if you are an experienced player looking for a new challenge. If you have just ended your under 11 season and your club does not offer girls rugby then get in touch or just come along to one of our sessions and see what we have to offer you to keep you playing and help you reach your potential. Over the past 6 years we have had a lot of success with county players, North of England, and even an England u18 trial for one of our girls. We have over 40 girls training and playing games regularly with teams at all age groups.