The Brisbane Junior Rugby Union (BJRU) has successfully run the region’s first teenage girls Rugby Tens competition, as women’s Rugby continues to grow in Queensland.
Over 100 girls participated in the BJRU Girls Rugby Tens, a five-week tournament hosted by Redlands Rugby Club, with players from Norths, Wests, Souths, Easts, University of Queensland, Sunnybank, Redlands, Logan City, Helensvale and Springfield Lakes involved.
Easts took out the inaugural U13s division, while Sunnybank were victorious in the U15s and U17s.
The growing interest and avidity of the Buildcorp Super W competition, which will see the St.George Queensland Women’s XV contest their second straight grand final against NSW this Sunday, has inspired a huge number of girls to get involved in Rugby.
Participation in women’s Rugby grew by 15% in 2018 and the progress has continued into this year, with Ipswich, Souths, Norths and Logan City now involved in the Queensland Premier Women s XVs competition, as well as Brisbane Irish in a Tens competition.
The BJRU Tens competition is the first of its kind for girls in the region, with girls Rugby previously predominantly limited to the Sevens format, until players reached the open age group before the formation of the tournament.
“BJRU played our first ever XVs match against Sydney Rugby Union in both U15s and U17s in September last year and the girls enjoyed it so much that they wanted more opportunities to play XVs rather than just Sevens,” BJRU competitions manager Kim Schuck said.
“We had a lot of girls participate who had never played Rugby before and they have come in and over the five weeks and enjoyed playing Rugby, learnt new skills and met a lot of new friends.”
2018 Queensland Super W captain Kirby Sefo and prop Cheyenne Campbell were involved with the tournament as coaches, while current Queensland and Wallaroos scrumhalf Cobie-Jane Morgan ran water for Sunnybank at Wednesday night’s finals.
“The young girls playing are seeing the women in the higher levels of the game an seeing that there is a reachable pathway there for them to follow,” Schuck said.
The tournament also acted as a selection tool for the BJRU’s representative XVs sides, with the U15s team set to play in the NSW State Championships later this year, while the U18s side is hoping to play the Australian National XVs Championships in July.
