{"id":270500,"date":"2025-11-08T07:04:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T07:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/270500\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T07:04:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T07:04:18","slug":"cambridge-rugby-club-hosts-first-girls-schools-taster-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/270500\/","title":{"rendered":"Cambridge Rugby Club hosts first girls&#8217; schools taster event"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Katy Prickett and <\/p>\n<p>Tom Willliams,at Cambridge Rugby Club<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762449430_699_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/78b54010-bb1f-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"John Fairhall\/BBC A primary school-aged girl in a pink tabard over a white T-Shirt running towards and about to make contact with a blue tackle bag, an upright foam pad about 1.5 metres (4.9ft) tall.  Behind her is another, similarly-dressed pupil. They are on the grounds of a rugby pitch.\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>John Fairhall\/BBC<\/p>\n<p>About 250 pupils from schools across Cambridgeshire gave rugby a go <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">A rugby club is hoping to build on the Red Roses&#8217; success by hosting its first large-scale girls&#8217; rugby schools taster festival.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Cambridge Rugby Club has seen more girls try out the sport since <a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/czjvgj81y2mo\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 iCaRzc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">England defeated Canada 33-13 to win the Women&#8217;s World Cup<\/a> in September.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Schools from across Cambridgeshire attended the event at its Grantchester Road ground and about 250 pupils took part. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">One convert to the sport was Phoebe, from Trumpington Community College, who said rugby was &#8220;built for me&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762449430_699_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/36578110-bb1f-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"John Fairhall\/BBC Three secondary school pupils in a row with their arms around each other. They are all wearing deep pink-coloured tabards over their blue short-sleeved shirts. They are all smiling. Behind them can be seen a rugby pitch and beyond that, trees. \" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>John Fairhall\/BBC<\/p>\n<p>Players included friends Ayn, Tamsin and Phoebe, from Trumpington Community College<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;I love being with my friends; being with people I haven&#8217;t met. We learn together and that&#8217;s the fun about rugby,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Schoolmate Tamsin also enjoyed the event, saying rugby was &#8220;quite a technical game; you can only pass backwards and have to think about how to move forward without being offside&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762449430_699_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cf1cd0e0-bb2d-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"John Fairhall\/BBC Four primary school girls in a row. The three in front are wearing deep pink tabards over white T-shirts and the one behind is wearing a white T-shirt. They are all smiling broadly and the rugby pitch can be glimpsed behind. \" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>John Fairhall\/BBC<\/p>\n<p>Bewick Bridge Community Primary School pupils Hattie, Krystal, Maya and Chloe said they had a good morning <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Ten schools took part, with many pupils trying out the game for the first time. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Not so long ago, we had one of the Cambridge rugby players come to the school and talk about it and the girls were really keen to get involved,&#8221; said Judith Appleby, of Bewick Bridge Community Primary School in Fulbourn. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;They are absolutely loving it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762449430_699_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/286251f0-bb08-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Tom Williams\/BBC Three people on a rugby pitch. On the right is a man, sideways on, in a black kit standing beside a girl in a red bib over a blue short-sleeved shirt. They are both bending over and looking towards a rugby ball, held by the girl. The man also has a hand on the ball. On the left is a girl in a blue short-sleeved shirt holding out her hands ready to catch something. \" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Tom Williams\/BBC<\/p>\n<p>David Bettinson coaching Trumpington Community College pupils how to kick <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">David Bettinson, the rugby U14 girls&#8217; coach, said: &#8220;Rugby is more than just catching, passing, tackling. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Rugby is working as a team, learning how to win and lose together; becoming a leader, inspiring others, communication &#8211; all of these things that bring us together gets them off screens and [they] have a great time in the fresh air.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The number of girls he coached had grown from six to 15, thanks to the Red Roses&#8217; win, he added. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The club now has 60 girls aged eight to 18 playing the game, and more than 50 women players. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762449430_699_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/9de53470-bb2a-11f0-ba75-093eca1ac29b.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Tom Jackson\/BBC A mid-teenage girl with short hair and wearing a pink rugby shirt and holding a white rugby ball. She is standing on a pitch and behind her can be seen club buildings. \" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Tom Jackson\/BBC<\/p>\n<p>U16 Rubies player Izzie said it was quite special to see so many girls trying out the sport for the first time<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Some of the club&#8217;s players took part in the event, including Izzie, from March, who plays for the club&#8217;s U16 Rubies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;I&#8217;ve been welcomed in from the first day,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;It&#8217;s very inclusive. There&#8217;s people from different backgrounds, different ethnicities; there&#8217;s people different shapes and sizes and we&#8217;re all best friends,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Niamh McHugh, U18s women&#8217;s pathway lead for professional rugby club Saracens, was there to explain the possibilities open to players, from grassroots club games to elite clubs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Opportunities are continuing to grow with more engagement and more funding into the sport,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Playing opportunities are increasing, and opportunities around it, like coaching, refereeing, management.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Katy Prickett and Tom Willliams,at Cambridge Rugby Club John Fairhall\/BBC About 250 pupils from schools across Cambridgeshire gave&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-270500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}