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Title-chasing English rugby team packed with Wales stars and led by a Welshman
An indomitable team dons red as they take the field, surrounded by luscious greenery and rolling hills in the distance. The oval ball reigns supreme here.
No, it’s not Wales. This is Gloucester-Hartpury — with no fewer than 16 Welsh players, 13 of them internationals, contributing to an unforgettable season which is about to reach its climax.
Gloucester-Hartpury Women have won 15 of their 17 Premier 15s fixtures, England’s top domestic women’s rugby league, to finish top of the table and earn a home semi-final against Bristol Bears at Kingsholm on Saturday, June 10. They are fancied to go on and lift their first piece of Premier 15s silverware at the same stadium at the final on June 25.
Last season, this Cherry and Whites side finished sixth in the table having won half of their games. Before this term, they had never finished higher than fourth, and reached the semi-finals once in 2017.
Their dominance this term has been established around the breakdown and in contact, allowing the backs to flourish.
Head coach and Swansea native Sean Lynn tells WalesOnline: “When we finished the season last year, as a coaching group we came together and said ‘how are we going to get into that top four?’ One thing we did need to look at was strengthening our forward pack and being a little bit more dominant in those collisions. That’s what we did – we went out and we recruited, making sure that we retained the right people. A lot of people are saying ‘your backline this year are on fire’ but our backline hasn’t changed for the last two years.”
Wales Women have 25 players on full-time Welsh Rugby Union contracts this calendar year, and all ply their club trade across the border in the Premier 15s. In the absence of a comparable offering in Wales, the RFU competition offers the highest standard of club rugby available to Wales internationals to prepare them for Test duties.
Geography dictates that Gloucester-Hartpury, Bristol Bears and Worcester Warriors in particular attract a plethora of Welsh talent, and this season it is the former hosting the biggest Welsh cohort. Make no mistake, their impact is gigantic – especially after a lengthy World Cup campaign last autumn where players worked closely to develop and improve on the field.
Day-time training sessions have gone from accommodating between five and eight players, with England’s Red Roses contracted on a professional basis much earlier than Wales, to 15-25 players. The club also has evening training for players who balance playing with external employment.
“With the Welsh girls having full-time contracts, they’re now on board with us, being part of the full-time programme that we deliver here,” Lynn says. “It’s pushing our club girls higher with the standards. We’ve got several Red Roses with us as well. It’s very competitive in the club environment but then it’s also amazing that they’re going full-time into national programmes which is benefiting us massively.”
Wales captain Hannah Jones, who this year guided her team to a second consecutive year as Six Nations “best of the rest” behind heavyweights England and France, “epitomises what a pro rugby player is about”, according to Lynn: “Everything she does on the field and off, the amount of work she puts into her game, it’s great to see she is blossoming now on the rugby pitch so that hard work has all paid off for her.” Jones is joined in the midfield competition by Wales’ Kerin Lake, and Wales-qualified Beth Jones, who is dual registered with Gloucester and Championship side Cheltenham Tigers.
“Outstanding” openside flanker Bethan Lewis is the head coach’s unsung hero pick. “She covers every blade of grass and she is your typical No. 7 who just goes about her business – a very, very good player.”
Pulling the strings is fly-half Lleucu George, who boasts an “unbelievable” kicking ability but has so far gone without a solid run at No. 10 for Wales, with Welsh veteran and Bristol half-back Elinor Snowsill being Wales’ first choice.
Lynn said: “Our game is revolved around Lleucu – she’s got a great kicking game, with the territorial gains we can get from her boot. Her skill set, her pass off her left and right, she has a vision, she understands the game of rugby. Her adaptability to play through the boot or have a kicking game and distribute through her hands is outstanding. She’s an exciting player and I think it’s just about making sure we keep her confidence high. I know [Wales head coach] Ioan [Cunningham] is working with her and she speaks very highly of [Wales attack coach] Shaun [Connor]. She’ll blossom in that environment.”
Welsh props Abbey Constable, Cerys Hale and Cara Hope are joined in their ranks by successfully converted second-row/tighthead prop Sisilia Tuipulotu, who was part of the headline-grabbing Wales Six Nations front row alongside club teammate, hooker Kelsey Jones.
Gwen Crabb and Liliana Podpadec are in the second-row ranks, wingers Lisa Neumann, Caitlin Lewis and Cath Richards add to the Welsh flavour out wide, and former Wales captain Siwan Lillicrap was a summer recruit last year from Bristol to add plenty of experience to the back-row – a signing which hometown rugby connections came in handy for.
Lynn recalls: “Siwan’s dad Tim used to be my coach at Waunarlwydd RFC and I was best friends with her brother. Rugby’s a small world. I’ve known Siwan from a young age. For me to get Siwan to come to Gloucester and enjoy her rugby, she’s going really well with the age grade group and is really enjoying that. One thing we do have at Gloucester is some really young players and I wanted Siwan to put her arm around some of these youngsters because of the experience she’s got. It’s beneficial for these youngsters and she has fitted in amazingly, which I knew she would.”
With so many Wales internationals on board, many of whom are on WRU contracts, what goes into this balancing act? Lynn says: “I’ve spoken to Ioan quite a few times on this, and the key message is club and country coaches have to have a working relationship otherwise the player is the one who gets stuck in the middle. It’s got to be a club/country relationship and making sure what’s best for that player. Ioan is in contact and I see [Wales forwards coach] Mike Hill at most games with us and we have a very good working relationship.”
England back-row force Sarah Beckett, World Cup finalist and World Rugby player of the year Zoe Aldcroft, and inspirational scrum-half Natasha ‘Mo’ Hunt are among the Red Roses talent pool in this neck of the woods, too. The varied mix of international players at any given club is a big part of what makes the competition so competitive and high-quality.
Lynn, former coach of Hartpury University’s men’s rugby team who won the BUCS Super Rugby title three years in a row, added: “It doesn’t matter if you’re Welsh, English or Irish – the environment at Gloucester-Hartpury is great for the Premier 15s because all of you are learning. I think it’s great for the game that all nationalities are playing in it and learning from each other.”
Lynn himself is happily enjoying his own learning curve, having moved from coaching men’s university rugby into the women’s game in 2020. A Wales U18s and Wales Students player who captained Hartpury University and Cinderford during his playing career, Lynn is embracing coaching in a flourishing world where sportswomen in general are finally starting to get the investment and recognition they deserve.
“Women’s sport, in particular, is great,” he says. “You look at the Lionesses, they were brilliant. For me, that turned people’s heads – it was at the right time in the summer, there wasn’t other sport on and people were in beer gardens and then they were like ‘this is good’. Women’s sport is about turning people’s heads and I do feel that the Six Nations did that for Wales and especially for the Red Roses who had 58,000 in Twickenham against France. Heads are being turned and it’s the way forward in the game, looking at rugby union.”
- Gloucester-Hartpury v Bristol Bears on Saturday, June 10 (3pm kick-off) will be broadcast live on the BBC Sport website, BBC iPlayer and BT Sport 1.
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