THE WOMEN\u2019S INTER-provincial championship and\u00a0U18 Series both kick off this weekend, meaning the best female rugby players in Ireland will be battling it out over the next three weekends.<\/p>\n
Further\u00a0down the pathway, it has been a huge summer for girls rugby in this country, with more than 1,000 youngsters taking part in the IRFU\u2019s\u00a0\u2019Give It A Try\u2019 campaign.<\/p>\n
The programme culminated in a national festival two weekends ago. Source: Tommy Dickson\/INPHO<\/p>\n
The majority of those girls had never played rugby before and the hope is that the eight-week programme they\u2019ve been part of in recent months will eventually lead to some of them being the inter-provincial and international stars of the future.<\/p>\n
Nora Stapleton, the former Ireland out-half who is the women\u2019s and girls rugby development manager for the IRFU, has been driving the programme since its \u201cpilot project\u201d phase last year.<\/p>\n
After 13 clubs were involved in the summer of 2017, there was an explosion in interest this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI estimated that we might get 500 kids this year and 20 clubs was the aim,\u201d says Stapleton.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got to 38 clubs around the country and we had 1,050 girls playing rugby. It\u2019s been a big success.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The programme was aimed at girls from the age of 10 to 14, with the IRFU providing a workshop for coaches and club coordinators back in\u00a0May before the programme began in June.<\/p>\n
Starting with something as basic as running forward and passing backwards, the eight-week programme took players through handling and catching, evasion skills, support play and more, with the emphasis on \u201ca\u00a0fun, enjoyable environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plan was that in week four, there would be tackling and by the time you got to week eight you could play a full-contact match, but because of the nice weather we had, the ground was like concrete and it meant we couldn\u2019t do that,\u201d explains Stapleton.<\/p>\n
Ireland internationals like Katie Fitzhenry were visitors to the ‘Give It A Try’ programmes at many clubs around the country. Source: Tommy Dickson\/INPHO<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did some tackle practice and the kids all got introduced to that but we didn\u2019t go to full-contact.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will probably keep it as touch for the matches next year too because it worked so well and I think at that time of year, it gives them that taster. We will still introduce them to tackling but when it comes to matches, we\u2019ll stick with touch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe game is more of an offload touch, not the kind of touch people might be used to. When you get a touch, you can still offload the ball to your support player, so it\u2019s encouraging that support play, which is far more like general rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n
Around 60% of girls who took part this summer hadn\u2019t been members of a rugby club before, and Stapleton stresses that it was key for the IRFU to bring more of this age grade into the sport, linking the ever-growing girls minis rugby on towards the U14, U16 and U18 grades and into adult women\u2019s rugby.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about joining up all the age brackets. This is important because either side of it, we\u2019d been seeing the growth already.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stapleton has been enthused by the growth of girls rugby in new places, citing the example of Kinsale.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The annual sevens festival in the Cork town is a big deal, of course, but this was Kinsale RFC\u2019s first year catering for girls and they had over 40 players at training many weeks.<\/p>\n
1,050 girls took part in the programme this summer. Source: Tommy Dickson\/INPHO<\/p>\n