England Women’s Rugby players pass on advice to local students

GUERNSEY hosted two England Women’s Rugby players for the first time yesterday, as they shared experiences and advice with local students.

Women’s rugby stars Sarah Hunter MBE, left, who is the current England captain, and Helena Rowland, current England and team GB Rugby 7s player. The pair visited Elizabeth College for a Q&A with students from various schools to promote women in sport. (Picture by Luke Le Prevost, 31853499)

Sarah Hunter MBE and Helena Rowland took part in a Q&A session at Elizabeth College with girls from across the island schools and talked about key topics in women’s sport.

One point of discussion was the steps being taken in women’s rugby to start paying the players full-time.

‘Some girls here can be like the boys and can be full-time athletes, and that’s a real inspiration for you guys who just want to play the sport,’ said Miss Hunter.

‘You can aspire to have careers which is something I never thought possible when I was young.’

Miss Hunter, who captains the England squad, also explained to the audience how no matter the circumstances, team spirit will always come first and used a recent famous example to prove her point.

‘After the World Cup final my biggest thought after losing was to look out for the squad. We were there collectively as a team and we all had to be there together in support,’ she said.

Miss Rowland shared this sentiment.

‘One of the key Red Roses values is teamwork,’ she said.

When quizzed by one audience member on what she was looking forward to most in the future, Miss Hunter said it was observing the ever-growing waves women’s rugby will make on world sport.

‘I’m really excited to see where the game will go and seeing the new opportunities that women in rugby will bring.

‘It has already come so far from when I was young, there wasn’t really a substantial girls pathway, and we had no one to look up to because there was no social media and women’s games were not broadcast,’ she said.

One experience Miss Rowland drew on was how injuries had affected her after suffering a leg injury in last year's World Cup semi-final.

Local rugby player Rachel Dallin, 17, said it was reassuring to hear some words of inspiration from one of her idols.

‘I’m currently off with injuries and it gets very demoralising so it was really motivating to hear them speak,’ she said.

Darcey Hodgson, 15, also described how the players’ words had resonated with her.

‘I loved hearing them say that it is possible to go far in a sport if you love it a lot.

‘It’s inspired me to keep going,’ she said.

Following the Q&A, the two players delivered a coaching session with the students in the Elizabeth College sports hall.