Rugby club's mission to create all-female team

A rugby club is hosting a "women takeover day" to encourage more females of all ages to play the game.

Bristol's Whitehall Rugby Club said it has not had a full women's team or girls' contact team above age 12 for a "while now".

Sarah Pascoe, the club's junior chairwoman, said: "In a lot of clubs you'll have maybe four or five girls per age group, those will build as they get older but that's not enough for a team when they reach year 7 school age."

The club's "women takeover day" will be hosted later, with the aim of giving people a chance to play the sport no matter what their level.

Ms Pascoe said: "There is a position for everybody in the team.

"It doesn't matter on your size. If you're not the fastest player on the pitch, that doesn't matter because there'll be a role for you within the team."

Saturday's event will give women and girls the chance to try touch rugby and a new format of the game called T1, which includes traditional aspects of the game like scrums and lineouts, without the same physical competition.

Ms Pascoe also emphasised the community benefits of the sport.

"You often find that many of the juniors or ex juniors will be helping the now juniors' side or still playing for the seniors," she explained.

"We've got lots of senior players who coach who are still playing every week," she said.

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