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Silverdale Rugby Club is inviting young women players to join its winter programme.
The club hopes to field two teams – a 15-a-side and a 10-a-side – in the Auckland women’s competition, as there is no Harbour competition at this stage.
For the past three years, North Harbour Rugby Union has facilitated the Albany Barbarians, a centralised team for all women’s rugby on the North Shore. However, in December the union announced the return of women’s rugby to its community clubs such as Silverdale.
Ahead of this move, clubs have been improving their club facilities for women, investing in quality coaches and welcoming female leadership to help provide a quality experience for female members.
Players over the age of 16 can play women’s rugby in NZ.
Silverdale director of female rugby, Glen Maguire, says that in anticipation of the return of women’s rugby to Silverdale, the club embarked on an ambitious drive to recruit female rugby players for the Summer of 7s rugby programme.
“We started by offering sponsored group fitness sessions at Anytime Fitness in Silverdale, then grew the programme mainly through word-of-mouth in local communities such as Silverdale and Mahurangi,” he says.
“As part of the programme, we ran a few new-to-tackle training sessions and introduced junior rugby players to the broader training group through our U18s pathway programme.
“We didn’t run trials, focusing instead on entering more teams to give everyone a go. The focus at Silverdale is very much on development, player engagement and participation.
“We ended up with 38 players in our squad over the summer and they played in three main tournaments – the Pasifika tournament (we were the only team from Harbour to enter two women’s teams), Harbour Club Day (we were the only club to field an U18s and a women’s female team), and the MW7s tournament at Mount Maunganui, where we were again the only club to field two women’s teams and both teams made the semi-finals.”
Maguire says the focus has now switched from the summer 7s to the winter programme.
Any women who want to play for the Silverdale women’s team, or want to know about the female rugby pathway programme, should contact FRD@silverdalerugby.co.nz
