Community News | Project Rugby expands to support women’s and girls’ game

A joint initiative between Premiership Rugby, its clubs and the RFU, Project Rugby is designed to increase participation in the game by people from traditionally underrepresented groups – and now Northampton Saints’ programme has been extended to cover the women’s and girls’ game alongside its current offering.

Saints’ Project Rugby programme already works with hundreds of participants from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and disabled people. Northampton’s Community team will now begin delivering to girls and young women in schools across the region, as part of its effort to grow female participation in rugby.

Saints – whose women’s side, Loughborough Lightning, feature in the Allianz Premier 15s – already deliver to hundreds of girls from the region across several Community programmes and rugby camps, with the Project Rugby expansion seeing Northampton work with more than 200 additional girls and young women before the end of the current season.

The extended programme is supported by the Asian Sports Foundation alongside Premiership Rugby’s title partner Gallagher, and will see Saints’ coaches help introduce girls to rugby and encourage them to join grassroots clubs local to Northampton.

“We’ve been working really hard over the last few years to expand all our Community programmes into the women’s game, and this expansion of Project Rugby is another important step,” said Saints’ Head of Community, Connor Fleming.

“We’ve seen some fantastic participation in girls’ rugby across the region so far, especially through our partnership with Loughborough, and we’re really looking forward to continuing to grow girls’ rugby in Northamptonshire and beyond.

“If any schools are looking for some help introducing their students to rugby or if you’re a young girl who’s wanting to get involved in rugby, we’d love to see you at one of our taster sessions!”