Leinster Rugby and the IRFU ran the first of their ‘3rd Level Give It A Try Roadshow’ sessions last week.
The programme is aimed at female college students and intends to give them a taste of rugby in a fun, sociable environment.
DCU was the venue for the first of the six events within Leinster that are taking place over the next two weeks.
Over 40 students turned up to ‘Give It A Try’, including some who had played rugby before in their local school or clubs before attending DCU.
Jennie Bagnall, Leinster Women’s Rugby Development Officer, was joined by former Ireland captain Fiona Coghlan, who led an ‘Introduction to Contact’ session for players completely new to the game.
Bagnall said afterwards: “The session was a huge success. Several women came who played other sports but had never tried rugby. It was great to see the crossover of skills from their other hobbies adapt to suit the game of rugby.
“They were nervous that they didn’t know the rules but we played a lot of touch game variations during the session and they soon relaxed and picked it all up easily.”
Aidan Kearney, DCU’s newly appointed Rugby Development Officer, said: “I was delighted that so many new players got to the session and we look forward to seeing them at the follow-up sessions. There’s an IRFU Freshers Festival on the 15th November so I hope they’ll all stick with it and come out and play at that.”
The other sessions are taking place in around Leinster as follows:
Carlow IT, 27th September
DIT, 2nd October
UCD, 4th October
Trinity College, 9th October
Dundalk IT, TBC
For more information contact Jennie Bagnall at jennie.bagnall@leinsterrugby.ie, or get in touch with your local college.
