Borders’ under-16s rugby team up for cup after winning league unbeaten
The Borders’ combined under-16 girls’ rugby team took delivery of one trophy on Sunday and now they’re setting their sights on another.
The youngsters won their age group’s east/west league this season after going unbeaten and they were presented with their prize at a rugby festival held in Berwick at the weekend, after being relocated from Kelso’s Croft Park, as a warm-up for next month’s under-16 east region cup semi-finals.
They played two games against Edinburgh opposition at that festival, beating Boroughmuir Banshees 22-10 and drawing 5-5 with Currie Chieftains’ girls’ side.
Their try-scorers against Boroughmuir were Iona Ritchie, Issy Ross at the double and Chloe James, with Lily Pringle adding a conversion, and Emmie Gribbin scored their only try versus Currie.
Coach Allison Whitson is delighted with how the girls’ season is going, saying: “To win the league unbeaten was brilliant and shows how far we’ve come.
“We were a bit unsure of how we were going to go this season because while last year’s under-16s finished second, a lot of them moved up to under-18s and we were left with half a team, but we got a good bunch of under-14s coming through and it’s been an absolute triumph.
“The older under-16s have really taken the new girls under their wing, and I think the young girls have enjoyed the challenge of moving from festivals once a month to playing every Sunday in 13-a-side games on a full pitch – and to win the league was just superb.
“We now have a lot of good players coming from towns across the Borders and this success, I think, has inspired more to realise they can have a go at rugby here.
“We currently pull in girls from all corners of the Borders, and we move training around to let them play in their own towns at times, while Peebles and Gala are also doing well to grow the numbers in their towns.”
Whitson added: “There’s still an awful lot of work to do with raising the profile of the sport because while there are a lot of girls now playing minis and under-14s, that’s not quite translating yet into the higher age groups, but with our teams having so many girls in different high schools now, we are hoping that that raises the profile of these girls and more realise that their rugby journey doesn’t have to finish at minis.
“Ultimately, we would love for every single rugby club in the Borders to have their own girls’ teams – that’s our aim – but for the time being, we are providing that stop-gap for Borders girls to learn and develop and enjoy the fun of playing rugby and so keep them in the sport.”