Harbourside Women's rugby team have been promoted to the second tier of the national league after finishing their season unbeaten. The side won all 16 of their matches, scoring 94 tries and conceding just 11, and sealed the title with a 41-7 victory over Larchfield on Saturday in front of a crowd of more than 600 at the Dockside ground.
The achievement is all the more striking because the club only formed its women's team five years ago. At the first training session, held on a Tuesday evening in the rain, just nine players turned up. The squad now numbers 38, and the club also runs girls' sections at under-14, under-16 and under-18 level.
Built from scratch
Head coach Siobhan Kerrigan, who played in the second tier herself before a knee injury ended her career, said the team's success came from patience rather than recruitment. "Most of these players had never held a rugby ball five years ago," she said. "We spent a whole season just on tackling technique and fitness before we worried about winning."
We have not changed what we do to get here. The work in the dark on a Tuesday night is the same as it was when there were nine of us.
Captain Hollie Pemberton, a paramedic at Wrenhaven General Hospital, scored two tries in the final match. She said juggling shifts with training had been difficult for many of the squad, and praised employers who had swapped rotas so players could travel to away fixtures.
Promotion will bring longer journeys and stronger opposition. The club estimates that its travel costs will roughly double next season, and it has launched a fundraising appeal to cover coach hire. A local building firm has already agreed to sponsor the team's new kit.
Club chair Ewan Mackie said the women's team had changed the club. "The clubhouse is busier, the volunteers are younger and the girls' sections are growing faster than anything else we run," he said. "They have done more for rugby in this part of the city than anything we could have planned."