Women’s Rugby at TRFC

“We don’t pick players up on their errors. If one of the girls drops the ball, she knows she’s dropped it, she knows she’s made a mistake. She doesn’t need it to be pointed out to her.”

Chris Brown is outlining some of the principles behind the Taunton RFC Ladies team that he coaches. It’s training night at Veritas Park and he’s momentarily left the squad – more than twenty of them – in the care of his assistant and co-founder of the team, Ria Rickward, in order to tell me about the developing group.

“You don’t know what’s going on in a player’s life and what she’s carrying on her shoulders. The rugby field is somewhere she can come and enjoy some freedom, a run around with her mates and some positivity. The last thing she needs when she comes here to have some fun is to end up with me gobbing off at her. So we keep it fun.”

Long associated with the club through his three boys all of whom played or still play in the junior section, Chris became Ladies Coach only four weeks after it began when Ria’s other co-founder, Joel Conlon, took a job in a different part of the country.  

The first session, Chris recalls, was a tag game with only four ladies. Since then, it has grown remarkably over two seasons with enough players now to play some friendly fixtures against the likes of Exeter Saracens and Trowbridge. When the first full contact game was played earlier this season at Wiveliscombe under the lights, there was a crowd of over 400. How can an amateur rugby player not be excited about that? The word has been spread organically with friends roping in friends as well as attracting some new faces via social media.

Though the Ladies Section is still very much at a developmental stage competitively, players have been gaining extra experience by guesting for more established clubs such as Paignton and Cullompton and Chris acknowledges that the additional exposure has improved their skill sets and awareness of the game.

Mum of four Nancy Johnson explains how discovering rugby has given her a new sense of freedom. “It’s given me a second family.” Nancy is the team’s tighthead prop and says that her background in dancing helps her when it comes to the movements and skills required for lifting in the line-out. She’s been part of the squad since 2020 and says, “l love being here. Love it. Friends, no judgement, good fun. Apparently there’s fitness involved but…”

What does Nancy’s husband make of her playing rugby? “He tells everyone he’s married to a rugby player – and he says he’s got himself anew wife since I’ve been playing!”

“My son’s played at Taunton Rugby Club since he was four, ”says mum of two, Fiona Mossman. “He’s sixteen now. It’s been a long time, always being part of the club but never having a Ladies’ Team until now. Suddenly we have one – which is amazing!”

A big part of the appeal of the squad is that nobody is obliged to do anything they don’t want to do, as Chris explains, “Some of the girls are understandably worried about their first experience of contact rugby so we’ve created an environment where nobody is forced to tackle if they don’t feel happy about it. Even if someone’s coming back from injury or illness, they can get involved by running around, practising their passing or maybe even just taking some photos for the social media posts. Everyone’s always a part of it.”

Since having kids, Fiona’s ration of sport had been limited to going to the gym but she has found a new outlet for her energy on the rugby field. Her son was gobsmacked when he first watched her play as Fiona recalls, “The look on his face was priceless. He said ‘Mum, you’re really, really good. That was amazing to watch.’”

Harriet Day and Hannah Wareham didn’t know one another before meeting at rugby training. Now they call themselves the “Centre Sisters” and describe themselves as “besties”, going out on the town together. “We’re both single lunatics,” they tell me, “We like a drink, a boogie and a bit of rugby.”

Inside centre Harriet, a solicitor, has been playing for about a year whilst outside centre Hannah has been involved for two years. Harriet had played some tag rugby in primary school, Hannah nothing at all. Both had been playing netball and were apprehensive at first about playing a contact sport. As it turned out, claims finance officer Hannah, “We pretty much eased into it with touch rugby over the summer and then we were raring to get into tackles and contact.”

“I’m the scrum half, the little one who runs everywhere and bosses everyone around,” says Fiona. “We do have quite a good social side too. We know our way to the bar and we go to watch other rugby games. A group of us is going to watch the Red Roses in the Six Nations at Twickenham.” They’ve even had a development mini-tour to Malta where they played a touch rugby game against the Maltese national team as well as plenty of other shenanigans which, of course, cannot be divulged as what goes on tour, stays on tour.

It’s a real mix of shapes, sizes, backgrounds, jobs and stages of life. “My friends wonder what I’m doing playing rugby,” recounts Nancy, “They say ‘You’re forty years old’ and I reply ‘I don’t care. My team-mates don’t care about my age.’ We all just get on with it and have a goodtime.” There are students, there are single ladies, there are mums and they all just blend into a team unit.

“It’s a no-pressure environment,” adds Hannah. “Everyone’s really nice and welcoming. It doesn’t matter what skill level you are, how shy or how confident you are. You’re welcomed with open arms. Chris is a great coach and he talks us through everything.”

All the Ladies want to play more and more. They’re all keen to get more fixtures, maybe even join a league. Chris doesn’t want to rush into joining a league but has plans for a much busier fixture list next season. In the meantime, there are games against Trowbridge and Bath coming up and training continues throughout the summer with touch rugby. So, if you’re sitting at home and wondering about giving rugby a go, take some advice from the Ladies of Taunton RFC. Their message is “Come and play, have a look, join in.”

Taunton RFC Ladies play a touring team from Trowbridge RFC on Sunday 16^th April at Veritas Park. Admission and parking free. A good time guaranteed.