Sitting In The Cheap Seats

Bristol Bears Women have been lighting up the Allianz Premier 15s this season with their swashbuckling attacking play and battling attitude. It’s propelled them up the table and if they continue on this trajectory will see them push into the top four come the playoffs too.

Rugby fans talk a lot about the sports vaunted values. Every time the All Blacks are pictured sweeping a dressing room or unloading their own bags social media erupts in a self-righteous frenzy of folk proclaiming the greatness of the sport we love. I think rugby’s great too, but not because a big team do some nice things when a camera is nearby. For me rugby is great because even in the face of insurmountable score lines teams dig in and give it their all. It’s special because people volunteer their time and impact their careers travelling for hours to training and losing whole weekends to go and play games that they know they are not expected to win. Despite all that, players band together, become closer and show all the values of teamwork, respect, and effort that we look for in our heroes. No team encapsulates that better than DMP Durham Sharks and that’s why I’m delighted to kick off a new series diving into every Premier 15s team with these inspiring women!

Battling against wind, cold and impressive opposition London Irish Emeralds continued their excellent start to the season on Sunday. Their win over Portsmouth Valkyries confirming a run of 7 victories from 7 fixtures to put them firmly atop their league.

In front of a noisy, excited crowd at Kingsholm the Remembrance Rugby fixture between UK Armed Forces and Rugby for Heroes promised to be an exciting game even before the first whistle had blown. The UKAF team was without some of their big names, though Josh McNally did travel up to present the team their jerseys, but the Rugby for Heroes squad was littered with familiar names from Premiership and international rugby. Julian Salvi and Jordan Crane in the back row are both familiar faces for rugby fans and Delon Armitage & Tom Varndell might both be retired but they give up their time for so many charity fixtures they still look match fit. Their captain Mike Tindall led from the front and it’s clear he still doesn’t know how to give anything other than his all. Read all about the game over at the UKAF website: https://www.ukafrfc.co.uk/match-report-ukaf-men-v-rugby-for-heroes/

Tomorrow morning will see Simon Middleton name his Red Roses team for the first of the autumn internationals. The team take on the Black Ferns in Exeter and like any match between England and New Zealand it promises to be a spicy affair. Ahead of finding out who Simon names I had a little go at naming a team of my own… I wonder how wrong I will be?

The Allianz Cup kicks off this week, a new cup competition to sit alongside the Premier 15s and give players who aren’t called up for international games some competitive rugby when the league would normally be paused. The format sees the league split into two groups, with the top two teams from each going on to play-offs and eventually a cup final in late April. Ahead of the first round we caught up with Harlequins Women scrum half Emma Swords to find out how preparations are going.

The autumn internationals are upon us and England head coach Simon Middleton has named his England squad ahead of fixtures against New Zealand, Canada and USA. Middleton has named eleven uncapped players in his squad which also includes a number of returning faces. Versatility is the keyword for Simon as players like Maud Muir , Flo Robinson and Holly Aitchison add not only their undoubted skill but also the ability to cover multiple positions. Alex Matthews and Helena Rowland return to the fold after their time with GB7s and are joined by Aitchison whose rangy runs and kicking game could well see her slot into the 12 shirt. Bombastic props Sarah Bern and Hannah Botterman are also back after time out injured and scrum half Leanne Riley is included despite having been injured herself for some time. Other notable inclusions include impressive Gloucester-Hartpury full back Emma Sing and a deserving call up for the ever-impressive Heather Cowell of Harlequins. Check out our video ...