Bristol Rugby : Ladies Home

Bristol Ladies, 2008-9

Bristol Ladies Rugby was established at the start of the 2008/09 season, when Clifton Ladies affiliated with Bristol Rugby. We were initially established as a Ladies club in 1984, and are one of the leading women's rugby clubs in the country. Since the 1990's our first XV have played in the Premiership, the top league in the country, and over recent years, the club has been National Premiership League Winners (2004), National Cup Winners (2002) and National Cup Runners up (2001, 2003).

Bristol Ladies Rugby XV team play in the Premiership after finishing 6th last year. Recruitment of new players who bring an impressive repertoire of international honours and Coaches Steve Penfold and Liza Burgess who in turn bring international coaching knowledge purports an exciting start to the season.

Bristol Ladies RFC 2nd team begin their campaign to establish themselves as competitive contenders in South West Division 1 next week against St Mary's Old Boys. Coach Paul Sheperd has worked to create a feeder relationship with local Universities Bristol and UWE to develop talent and engage more women to compete at higher levels.

We welcome new players to our club all year round. Whether you are new to rugby or have been playing for years! There are opportunities for everyone to play. Bristol Ladies train on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7- 9pm, at Dings RFC. Email bristolladies@bristolrugby.co.uk for more information.

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CLUB CONTACTS

	STEVE PENFOLD - HEAD COACH Steve started coaching primary school children at the age of 21 as part of his degree. Currently Steve lectures Sports Performance and Excellence at Hartpury college. Alongside this he coaches Hartpury U18s and U19s Rugby Academy and Gloucester Junior Talent Squad for the past 4 seasons. Steve is looking forward to developing a brand of rugby that is eye catching and pleasing to watch and one that gives the players the best oppurtunities to further their own aspirations while competing for a place in the top 4 of the Premership
	LIZA BURGESS - ASSISTANT COACH Liza (known to most as Bird) started playing rugby atUniversity. She then played for Wasps, then Saracens before she joined Bristol/Clifton where she has played for 6 years. Liza has an amazing playing history with 6 GB National Squad and 87 Welsh National Squad caps. She has also been part of the Welsh Women's coaching team and the Head Coach of the Welsh Dragons U18s regional squad since 2008.
	PAUL SHEPHERD - 2ND TEAM COACH Paul works as a PE Technician at King Alfred School in Burnham-on-Sea. He started playing aged 12 and went on to represent the County at Under 15's, 16's, 18's levels. He made the South West and South squads each season that he played, until he retired from competitive rugby in 2008. He began coaching in 2007 and has since been involved in several coaching jobs. Currently he coaches University of Bristol Ladies RFC, South West Under 15's, Somerset Under 18's, South West ETC, Somerset and Bristol Schools of Rugby.
	STEPHEN DUBREUIL - 1ST TEAM MANAGER Stephen came to his first Bristol training session at the beginning of the 07/08 season to visit some England players he had met at the World Cup. He was informed that the position was vacant and they haven't been able to get rid of him since.
	KATHERINE TULLEY - 2ND TEAM MANAGER Known as Neon she joined the club in 2002 and has played every season since. Neon is a biomedical scientist specialist at NHSBT in the red cell immunohaematology department at Filton, Bristol. When not working or playing rugby she spends her time climbing, caving, scuba diving, skiing & cricket.
	CHRISTIAN WISEMAN - HEAD PHYSIOTHERAPIST Chris qualified as a physiotherapist in 2003. During 5 years of practice he has undertaken a number of musculoskeletor physio jobs with an emphasis on sport injury prevention and rehabiliation. He has worked with a number of elite athletes including stints with England U21 netball, England amateur boxing, and the England RFUW. He presently works privately at Kinetic Fitness while studying medicine at Bristol University.

To find out more about getting involved with Bristol Ladies, whether on the playing side or in a commercial sense, please email us at bristolladies@bristolrugby.co.uk

The Women's 6 Nations kicks off this weekend along with the Men's, and Bristol have several Ladies in action in the opening, and historically most competitive, match of the tournament: England vs Wales.

Catherine Spencer hailed her success at the Rugby Union Writers' Club Awards as a landmark moment for the women's game after claiming a Special Award in London.

The 1st XV hosted Saracens on Sunday in front of a record home crowd at Dings RFC. Bristol turned out a very strong team for the match, and welcomed Welsh international Jamie Kift back into the No.7 position after a long injury period.