MATCH PREVIEW: MIDLANDS WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP (FESTIVAL ROUND ONE)

Hurricanes’ Women to kick-off championship campaign in Leamington

Whilst Men’s Head Coach Mark Dunning and his boys travel to Colwyn Bay to take on North Wales Crusaders, Women’s Head Coach Jamie-Lee Jones and Captain Alex Stock will lead our women into their first ever league game as our inaugural Midlands Women’s Championship campaign gets underway on Sunday. With women’s participation in rugby league growing at an exceptional rate in recent years, everyone at the Hurricanes is nothing short of delighted by the fact that our women’s side will be part of that growth.

Sunday represents a historic moment for the Canes Women’s team as it will be the first league campaign we compete in, with our debuting year seeing us limited to a number of exhibition games (against the likes of Cheltenham Phoenix) and competing in the Midlands Nines Festival, where we reached the final before falling short against the RAF. Alex Stock expressed her excitement at the Women In League Open Day about the opportunity and challenges the Women’s Championship presents for her ladies, with the underlying aim being that it offers women in Birmingham and the wider Midlands area - regardless of experience - an opportunity to give rugby league a try in a supportive environment.

The Hurricanes will be one of six teams competing in the Midlands Women’s Championship, alongside Coventry Bears, Leamington Royals, Nottingham Outlaws, Telford Raiders and Sheffield Eagles A. Unlike the Men’s competition, the Midlands Women’s Championship will operate as a round-robin festival format, with several teams competing in multiple shorter games each round, which will be hosted by one or more of the teams competing in the Championship. This effectively means each team will play 10 games across five weekends, with a separate Nines Festival anticipated for Sunday 6 July.

For the First Round, the Hurricanes will travel to Leamington Rugby Club (the home of Leamington Royals) with Coventry Bears for all three sides opening fixtures. The first game will see Leamington Royals take on Coventry Bears (at 14:00), with Coventry remaining on the field to take on the Hurricanes (at 14:45) and the Canes ending proceedings against Leamington Royals (at 15:30). Entry to these games are free of charge, so we strongly encourage any fans who are not travelling to Colwyn Bay to consider travelling to Leamington to cheer on Alex Stock and the rest of our women’s team.

In addition to the aforementioned games taking place at Leamington RFC, Telford Raiders, Nottingham Outlaws and Sheffield Eagles A will lock horns at Telford Hornets RFC in a similar round-robin festival format.

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