Muir inspiring the next generation
Red Roses forward leads surprise training session
Former Maidenhead RFC girls' coach Maud Muir was one of England's nine try scorers as the Red Roses crushed Wales' hopes of lifting the Triple Crown with a 59-3 victory in Cardiff on Saturday.
Muir has been a regular at Braywick Park over the past couple of seasons, helping develop Maids' talented young players and newly established girls' teams.
Her Wasps and England commitments have made it more difficult to commit to regular coaching sessions at the club, however, she's already helped set the young Maids' girls’ teams on the road to success.
The girls u14s was crowned league champions earlier this month after a stunning victory over rivals Reading RFC while the u16s side has significantly closed the gap in terms of quality to one of their key rivals, Bracknell RFC.
The women's and girls’ game at Maidenhead is currently flourishing and it's a trend that's hopefully being repeated at community clubs across the UK. Earlier this month, Muir and fellow Red Roses players Lydia Thompson and Lark Davies made a surprise visit to Reading Abbey RFC to lead a training session for the club's young players.
The visit was organised by England Rugby partner O2, who are doing all they can to help
close rugby's gender awareness gap. As part of this, O2 have announced a partnership with the RFU and the Women's Sport Trust and an ambition to fill Twickenham Stadium for a women's rugby game by 2025.
They may well come close to that when they host France at Twickenham in the final game of the Women's Six Nations on Saturday, April 29. Should England overcome Ireland on Saturday, they'll go into the game looking to wrap up the Grand Slam, and Muir is expecting a very special atmosphere from an expected record crowd.
“We're constantly selling out stadiums and that shows to the RFU that if we can sell out the smaller venues week in and week out, we can
play at places like Twickenham,” said Muir.
“Hopefully the game against France will show that we do deserve to play at these bigger stadiums. The demand is there, and people are excited for this game.”
As part of the training session, the Reading Abbey girls’ team were presented with tickets to watch the Red Roses in action against France on April 29. Not only will the girls get to see Muir and her teammates play, but they will also get to experience a live performance from iconic British girl band Sugababes, who will perform for the first time at a sports venue when they take to the stage for the half-time show.
“They were just so excited to see us,” Muir said of the players' visit to
Reading Abbey. “I think it’s good for them to see that we’re normal people and they can properly look up to us. They can aspire to be like us and play for England one day.
“It was a really good day, and they could ask questions at the end as well, it was really special. It's good that they have so many more opportunities to play the game now. The current Red Roses squad didn't have so many opportunities to train and play with girls of a similar age We either had to play with the boys or go up age groups, so having that opportunity to play with girls of similar ages is great.
“I can't remember the specifics, but I remember that at the age of 11 I had to stop playing with the boys because it was a legal requirement. I don't think I was allowed to play competitively with girls again until I was about 13. So, there was a two-year gap when I wasn't playing competitively, that's a big chunk out of your development.
“When I was coaching at Maidenhead, they were looking to bring in teams for all age groups to bridge the gap to senior rugby My aim was just to help the girls enjoy it, and I hope they came away from the sessions wanting to continue playing. That was my main aim.”
Visit O2 Priority to buy tickets to England vs France at Twickenham.