Wests halfback Rachael Phipps believes it is exactly what rugby needs for young female players.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so happy when I heard of this new competition for U20s,\u201d Phipps said.<\/p>\n
Wests halfback Rachael Phipps…eager for the U20s comp after savouring a reserve grade premiership with Wests last year<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, I was 16 and still at school and there wasn\u2019t an age group for me to step up to in rugby. I went straight to seniors. I was lucky to find a great environment at Wests where they do have a reserve grade side and I could learn a lot,\u201d Phipps said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know the jump is a daunting one. Having this U20s comp will lessen the shock and higher expectations of the big jump to seniors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great stepping stone. For me and a lot of friends, we will benefit playing against girls of the same age and getting more game time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Halfback Phipps was still in Year 12 at Kelvin Grove State College last year when she entered the senior ranks and savoured a reserve grade premiership at Wests.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the game and it\u2019s really exciting to see the support women\u2019s rugby is being given by my club and now the U20s comp,\u201d Phipps added.<\/p>\n
The U20s Fillies competition will be staged across three Sundays at different host clubs before semi-finals and a grand final.<\/p>\n
Norths will host on February 22 before Sunnybank (March 1) and Wests (March 8) also host double-headers with 9:30am and 10:50am kick-offs.<\/p>\n
QPR Competitions Manager Trent MaChong said the new U20s Fillies series has been born out of clubs seeing the need for such a competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was clear interest at the clubs to create this step in the pathway. It\u2019s really exciting for young women to now have the chance to showcase their talents with players of the same age,\u201d MaChong said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen\u2019s rugby continues to grow and this lightning series over five weeks is a great way to encourage the next generation of players in the 15-a-side game.\u201d<\/p>\n
QUEENSLAND PREMIER RUGBY<\/p>\n
Under-20 Fillies<\/p>\n
Round 1 at Norths Rugby Club (February 22) Norths vs Sunnybank and UQ vs Wests<\/p>\n
Round 2 at Sunnybank Rugby Club (March 1) UQ vs Sunnybank and Norths vs Wests<\/p>\n
Round 3 at Wests Rugby Club (March 8) UQ vs Norths and Wests vs Sunnybank<\/p>\n
March 15 Semi-finals<\/p>\n
March 22 Grand Final<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The launch of the first Under-20s Fillies competition in Queensland Premier Rugby is a major step in building…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,12061,760,85],"class_list":["post-461156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-queensland-reds","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461156","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=461156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}