Last Sunday, the Women’s Rugby World Cup (WRWC) trophy visited Whitemans Green and to mark the occasion teams of girls across all ages - U12, U14, U16 - enjoyed a new version of non contact rugby called T1. Retaining key elements of the game including scrums, lineouts, kicking, and breakdowns, there is no tackling in T1, emphasising fun, fitness and inclusion for all ages and abilities.

Girls from across a number of different Sussex Clubs including Burgess Hill, Crawley, Crowborough, East Sussex Barbarians, Lewes, Pulborough and Worthing joined the full Haywards Heath RFC Girls Squad to soak up the sunshine and test out their skills.

The girls were able to enjoy the fantastic new sport and community facilities available in the new Clubhouse. One of the main reasons for the fund raising efforts of the Club over the last seven years has been to make sure rugby could be inclusive for girls and women since the old Clubhouse had no appropriate facilities to support female participation. The fantastic new HHRFC Clubhouse has six changing rooms each with their own showers and toilet facilities, making it easy for Heath to host significant rugby events for girls (and boys).

Increasing female participation has become a reality very quickly as girls rugby has been able to increase its profile through action on and off the pitch. Over the last two months, the Club has hosted a schools 7s tournament with ten schools from the South East and its own girls rugby festival where sixteen rugby clubs from across Sussex and Kent brought over 150 U14 girls to Whitemans Green for a 10s festival.

Last weekend, a fantastic morning of rugby was enjoyed by all eight clubs with the star attraction being the Women’s Rugby World Cup trophy as excitement builds for a home tournament starting in August – an advantage that England’s Red Roses is hoping will boost their chances of success. All England matches will be screened live in the HHRFC Clubhouse and anyone considering trying out rugby is invited to come and have a go at a Heath event. Watch out for the free girls one day rugby camp later this summer.

The Club is also hosting free strength and conditioning sessions for women and girls age 14+ every Wednesday evening at Whitemans Green this Spring/Summer from 7-8pm. Last week there were more than 70 participants. As you can see, female participation is growing, helped by the new, inclusive Clubhouse facilities and any girls who would like to give rugby a try should contact youth@hhrfc.co.uk or visit www.hhrfc.co.uk.