Hamilton Bulls’ rugby development officer Steven Meenagh hopes the club’s girls have been inspired by a meeting with Scotland internationals Louise McMillan and Evie Wills.
Sunday was Scottish Rugby’s Glasgow North Girls Festival and Hamilton took part in the event at Ravenscraig Sports Centre, contesting in the U12s, U14s and U16s categories.
Sessions for girls at Bulls have run since the summer and there are high hopes for expansion in 2022.
After Covid knocked back their plans, Meenagh says the club are trying to regenerate rugby interest in Hamilton.
He said: “What we are trying to do with rugby in the area is restart it after everything that’s happened with Covid. There have been a number of development days ran and Sunday was a round-up for the year.
“The girls’ sessions just started up at Hamilton in the summer there, so we were able to take a group of girls to play some development games. We were able to link with clubs who perhaps don’t have a full team yet.
“It’s been really positive from our point of view that we had around four girls on our books in August. We are now over the 20 number mark in terms of players who have started to train.
“We hope that numbers continue to grow as we move into the New Year.”
Meenagh was also delighted that two Scotland international players came down to take in Hamilton’s weekend efforts, Mills and McMillan.
Hamilton Bulls’ girls squads had travelled to the DAM Health Stadium in Edinburgh to watch Scotland’s women’s national team take on Japan last month, winning 36-12 in front of a vibrant crowd of around of 2,346.
It was ideal for Meenagh to have both drop by his side and give them useful tips on how to move forward with their early steps in rugby.
The development officer reckons the squads will take plenty away from the conversations – as many of the aspirations individually lie in becoming Scotland internationals themselves one day.
Meenagh added: “We had two of the Scotland players coming down. Evie and Louise came and spoke to the players which is great for us.
“Obviously women’s rugby and sport is growing, but for these girls to see females who have made it to the top, to hear their stories, is great for keeping the girls engaged and pushing towards reaching their goal of playing for Scotland.
“These girls have played for Scotland and come from similar pathways. We took the girls to the Scotland Japan game in November for them to watch.
“It was a nice follow-up that the girls then got to speak to some of the players. It’s always great to get the players down and it makes it more real for our girls.
“It’s really important as we move into the post-Covid world where it’s a bit harder to get those interactions with players.
“So it was great of the girls that they came down. They chatted away to the younger players.”
If you are interested in joining Hamilton Bulls, email stevenmeenagh@hamiltonrugbyclub.co.uk.
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