2023/24 Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby fixtures announced
A new era for women's rugby in England kicks off this Autumn, and today's confirmation of the fixtures for the Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby competition adds excitement and anticipation for fans near and far. Two new sides join the league, with the arrival of Leicester Tigers and Trailfinders Women in the elite division of English women's rugby alongside eight returning teams from last season.
Trailfinders Women begin their campaign in the newly formed Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby with a mouth-watering London derby as Harlequins make the short trip to Ealing on the opening weekend of 17-19 November. Tigers also start at home to last season's runners-up and Cup winners, Exeter Chiefs.
Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby Round One
Weekend of 17-19 November
Bristol Bears v Sale Sharks
Leicester Tigers v Exeter Chiefs
Saracens v Loughborough Lightning
Trailfinders Women v Harlequins
Warriors Women v Gloucester-Hartpury
See the full fixture list here.
Trailfinders Women are led by Giselle Mather, one of the most experienced coaches in world rugby, with more than 20 years of guiding teams to the top. "The new league campaign is hugely exciting for us," said 1994 Rugby World Cup winner Mather, who had an illustrious career as a player before becoming a coach.
"The women’s game at the moment is in a fantastic space and the club’s commitment to it is immense, so the opportunity to lead this programme is really exciting.
"The big thing for us is that everything is new - it's everything from the bibs and the balls to the players, staff, environment and league.
"As a coach, it's an unbelievably unique opportunity because you’re not inheriting anything you are creating. I enjoy creating and looking at building a high-performance environment from nothing. But can do it with fabulous facilities at the club, and we have the most extraordinary support from Trailfinders."
Trailfinders Women have their sights set on a big crowd for their first game - which will be a memorable day in the club's history, showing how far the women's game has come in a relatively short time. Mather adds: "Two London teams going against each other, hopefully from a commercial point of view we'll have a big crowd, as we’ve set a target of 2,000 at our first game."
Mather coached new Leicester Tigers head coach, Vicky Macqueen, when she was a pacy full-back and this season the two women come head-to-head in Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby.
Macqueen expressed the feeling of euphoria that surrounds women's sport at the moment saying: "It's really exciting. I know I keep saying that, but I think it sums up what everyone is thinking and feeling. We know we’re going to be judged and looked at, but we’re excited about that."
Neither Mather nor Macqueen's teams will be there to simply make up the numbers and Macqueen adds: "We want to make a statement in year one but know there is a lot of experience in this league. We will focus on what we do best, use our superpowers, and think about our strengths. It’s the mentality we have."
Off the field, Tigers have confirmed even more exciting news for the women's club's first year in the Premiership, Macqueen adding: "We have sold almost 5,000 season tickets ahead of the new season, over double our target for our first season in the elite level of women’s rugby which is magnificent support from the Tigers fans.
"Having welcomed the Red Roses to Mattioli Woods Welford Road in the 2022 Six Nations, we’re delighted to bring Premiership Women’s Rugby to our famous stadium and to supporters who are excited about the best competition in women’s rugby. "
Reigning champions Gloucester-Hartpury begin the defence of their title with a short trip to Sixways where Warriors Women lie in wait. Sean Lynn's side beat Exeter Chiefs 34-19 in an unforgettable final in June at 'Queensholm', with almost 10,000 fans in attendance and will be focused on starting the 2023/24 season off strongly.
Lynn said: "Winning the title last season was huge for this Club. It was a day none of us will ever forget, not just for winning the trophy, but because of the incredible support for the women’s game at ‘Queensholm’.
“Our ambition now is to keep that trophy in our cabinet. We have retained every player that started in the final and secured some brilliant new additions in Elizabeth Shermer, Trudy Cowan, Cath Richards, Carmen Castellucci and Mackenzie Carson. If we can build on last season, particularly the team unity which I hope has become synonymous with this team, we’ll be in a strong position come the business end of the season.”
Ashton Gate will set the scene for Bristol Bears' opening weekend clash against Sale Sharks while Loughborough Lightning travel to north London to face 2022 winners Saracens.
Carolyn Rich, head of brand marketing and social responsibility at Allianz said: "After three years of sponsoring the Allianz Premier 15s we are excited to see how the Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby will reach new audiences and grow the game.
"It's a really promising time for women's sport, especially rugby, and we are proud to be part of it. We are particularly looking forward to the start of the new season and to welcoming the new clubs to the competition."
The Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby semi-finals will take place on the weekend of 7-9 June with the date of the final two weeks later on 22 June.
The Allianz Cup will kick off the new season of elite women's rugby season in England in September. Cup fixtures will be announced on Wednesday 9 August.
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Some interesting stats that just proved what my first impression of NZ’s drive to speed up Rugby Union would amount to - fine margins here and there to cut a few seconds off the game and nothing else. To do more there would have to be wholesale changes to the game like doing away with scrums, lineouts and bringing back the ELV’s to have free kicks instead of penalties. Very little chance of it happening but, in the end, Ruby Union would be a 15-man version of Rugby League. There are reasons why Rugby Union is globally more popular that Rugby League and what NZ are also not considering is the unintended consequences of what they want to achieve. This will end up turning Rugby Union into a low value product that will not be acceptable to the paying public. If people really wanted a sped-up version of rugby, then why is Rugby Union globally way more popular than Rugby League? Rugby lovers all over the world are also not stupid and have seen through what NZ are trying to achieve here, selfishly to bring back their glory days of dominance over every other nation and compete with Rugby League that is dominant in Australasia. NH countries just don’t have the cattle, or the fantastic weather needed to play like NZ SR franchises do so good luck to whoever has to try and convince the NH to accept going back to the days of NZ dominance and agreeing to wreck the game in the process. I have serious doubts on the validity of the TV stats presented by GP. All they did was expand the broadcasting base by putting it on free to air, not even any indication of arresting the continued drop in viewership. Match day attendance goes hand in hand with broadcast ratings so if there was an increase in the one you should expect to see it with the other. However, the drop in match day attendance is very evident to the casual highlights package viewer. The only club who looks to be getting solid attendance is the Drua. I am calling it now that NZ’s quest to speed up the game will fail and so will the vote on the 20-minute red card.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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