Street putting Quins on path to success
NEALE HARVEY sits down with visionary Harlequins Ladies coach Gary Street
“I’d love people to come down and watch... I think they’ll be blown away by the standard”
Rejuvenated Harlequins Ladies co-coach Gary Street believes women’s rugby is ready for lift-off as more players set their sights on turning professional.
Street has for many years been in the vanguard of a women’s rugby revolution, taking England to a world title in 2014 before helping transform Harlequins into a side to be reckoned with that supplied seven key members of England’s victorious Six Nations squad.
Street was controversially shown the door by the RFU in January 2015, just months after landing the big one, but has been able to reinvent his career as Harlequins have embraced the women’s game.
The former scrum-half, now 52, told The Rugby Paper: “Leaving the RFU was a turning point and you wonder, what next? What challenge could be the same as trying to win another World Cup?
“It was quite a difficult time, to be honest, but luckily I hung on in rugby and then got a call from Tony Diprose, below, about a project Quins were looking to do in the women’s game.
“It was one of the best days of my coaching career to hear what the plans were in 2015 and I was fortunate to be able to grab the opportunity with both hands.”
Beaten finalists in last year’s newly formed Premier 15s, Harlequins Ladies are aiming to go one better and dethrone conquerors Saracens this time around.
A secondary, but still significant target is to beat last year’s record crowd of 4,500 when they meet Glouces-ter-Hartpury in a stand-alone game at the Stoop on March 30.
It’s dubbed ‘The Game Changer’ and Street explained: “It was an amazing atmosphere against Richmond last year and to have that many for a stand-alone women’s game was fantastic. “We’d love to beat 4,500 this year and I’m sure we will, but one of the biggest reasons I’d love people to come down and watch is just to see the standard of rugby. “We’ll have all our England internationals back and it’ll surprise people just how good it is. Hopefully, people will be blown away and will want to come back again.” Street sees no limits to what Harlequins Ladies can achieve now they are so closely aligned with the men’s team and train together at Surrey Sports Park. He said: “The support from the club has been fantastic and it’s exciting personally to see a club with such a really inclusive feel between the men and women. “You hear about a ‘one club’ ethos elsewhere but this is as close as it gets at Harlequins and I get an amazing buzz about us all being together being in Guildford – I never thought I’d see the day when women trained as professionals, but now it’s a reality.
“It’s still quite strange for our England girls like Rachael Burford, Abbie Scott, Jess Breach, Vickii Cornborough, Emily Scott, Shaunagh Brown and Leanne Riley to think that this is now their place of work, but that can only benefit their careers.
“It’s a really talented pool of players we’ve got and it’s great to think that all of those girls are now at Harlequins – a team that’s really progressing and is on the up.
“Hopefully, more of our players will join them in the England squad and there are now real synergies between the men’s and women’s coaches at Quins. We aim for world-class standards and don’t want to stand still; we want to get better and better.”
While professional women’s rugby is in its infancy and there are still cynics who claim it will never match the men’s game for intensity or skill, Street begs to disagree.
He added: “I’ve tried hard to get rid of the brackets around the game. It’s not ‘women’s rugby’ anymore, it’s just a good game of rugby and I guarantee that anyone coming to see ‘The Game Changer’ will feel engaged and be impressed by the standard on offer.
“We’ve developed a good following for our matches now and it’s a great opportunity for the people of Richmond and Twickenham to get on board with what we’re doing. Harlequins is no longer just about the men, we feel we’re now offering something for everybody.”
Harlequins Ladies meet Gloucester-Hartpury in The Game Changer at the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday March 30, kick-off 2pm.
Entrance is free for Harlequins members, £10 for non-members and £5 for kids.