Womens Pathways
The player pathway for women is open to any player currently playing rugby at a college or club. It can be accessed through their Constituent Body (CB) county programme, for which trials will take place on September 25, 2011. Where possible, players should attend the trial in the CB where they are intending to play throughout the programme as this makes the process much clearer. Players will not be able to trial in the CB that is near their home before transferring to another CB which is where their college is based. For more information on where local CB trials will be taking place around the country please contact your local RUSLO or look on the RFUW pages of RFU.com.
Following the CB programme, players are nominated for divisional trials which will take place on the January 29, 2012 at locations within the four divisions. In order to be selected for the divisional squads, all players are expected to attend the trials. If they are injured, the relevant Divisional Talent Development Officer should be contacted. Any player who wishes to progress on the pathway and be available for England U20s trials or Super 4s must have played at all the stages of the pathway as detailed above. Should any players have any questions on the various stages of the player pathway they should email RFUW Player Development Manager Andy Paton at andypaton@rfu.com
There is an increasing focus on sevens rugby across the whole sport and there are opportunities to access the new sevens programme in two ways; either through open trials which will be held in May each year or through a talent transfer programme, which is being run by UK sport. This programme is targeted at those with little or no rugby experience. The sevens programme has two squads; a development squad and the Elite Player Squad.
