Girls answer England call
Horsham Rugby Club are delighted to announce that under-18s girls Grace Clifford and Jessie Spurrier, have been selected for the England Talent Development Group (ETDG).
The growth of Girls and Ladies rugby at Horsham has been one of the biggest success stories for the club over the last decade, largely responsible to the efforts of coaches Steve Driver and Tyrone Matthews starting from scratch and going into local schools to encourage girls to try their hand at the game.
A measure of their success is that the club now have 150 girls and ladies playing rugby at Horsham.
Under-18 girls team manager Lyn Spurrier said: “Before the 2020-21 season even began, there was an extremely high level of excitement surrounding the under-18s Girls squad, having won the Sussex League the previous season, and now welcoming in the girls moving up from the under-15s squad, who had reached the National semi-finals in the same year.
“Without doubt, there was a feeling surrounding all the players and coaches that the under-18 Girls had the opportunity to become one of the strongest squads that Horsham had ever fielded.
“However with the disruption caused by Covid-19 and the subsequent cancellation of training and fixtures, the girls were unable to compete competitively.
“Covid-19 caused similar disruption to the England Elite Pathway with the first two ETDG training camps being cancelled and subsequent camps having strict limitations and restrictions in place.
“But despite this, for Grace & Jessie, having opportunities to train and play rugby this season, makes their ETDG experience even more valuable.”
You can read a full interview with Grace and Jessie in next week’s West Sussex County Times.