Banff and Fraserburgh women’s rugby sections have formed an exciting partnership and the BanffBroch team has been born and will compete in this year’s National Bowl competition.
The new team will begin their campaign with a long road trip to the Borders tomorrow to take on Gala. After that they will have a home match in Banff versus Aberfeldy on March 22, an away game at Falkirk on April 5 and then a home game in Fraserburgh against Musselburgh on April 12.
The first two games will be played in Banff strips and the last two in Fraserburgh strips and this really is a partnership.
Two teams from the five involved in the Bowl will progress to the final after the pool stage and BanffBroch are excited to get going.
Andy Smith from Banff and Yvonne Ewen from Fraserburgh coach the team together and the latter said: “Over the past couple of years we have faced challenges with player numbers at Fraserburgh and as a result the ladies have played alongside other local teams to gain some game time and to keep them developing in the sport.
“When I saw that Banff had launched women’s fitness-based rugby sessions called Rugby Fit, I felt it was a great opportunity to strengthen training numbers and provide a more productive environment for our players.
“I reached out to Andy, and we arranged for some of our Fraserburgh players to attend sessions in Banff. In turn, Banff players joined us for our summer touch rugby and training sessions.
“Following several successful joint sessions, I discussed the idea of combining the two squads to create a team for more consistent playing opportunities. We initially discussed friendly fixtures to build experience and confidence and, after further positive sessions together, I suggested entering the Bowl competition to accelerate player development.
“We consulted with both groups to see if there was any interest and the enthusiasm was there. It was evident straight away how eager they were all to learn the sport and play in competitive fixtures so, from there, BanffBroch was formed.”
Smith added: “I started Rugby Fit at Banff around two years ago and it started out with about five or six women and I ended up with about 20.
“We were just doing basically rugby drills, rugby warm ups and working on things that you see in rugby with contact and it was great to see how things took off.
“Things took off even more when Yvonne got in touch and the BanffBroch idea is exciting and lots of people are buying into it.”
Currently the team trains in Fraserburgh on Tuesdays and in Banff on Wednesdays and hold a Saturday session that alternates between the two venues when there are no games on.
On February 7, BanffBroch headed to the Naval Grounds in Invergordon to take on Ross Sutherland.
They lost the friendly 46-7, but the first outing as a team was a big success and allowed players to put into practice things they have been working on in practice.
Now the Bowl competition is here and Ewen said: “The excitement within the squad is clear.
“The players have built a strong bond and have fully embraced coming together as one group.
“Our objective for the Bowl is centred on development: gaining match experience, learning from each fixture and continuing to grow in confidence and understanding. If we focus on improvement and enjoyment, the results will take care of themselves.”
Smith added: “It has been so good seeing the players from both Banff and Fraserburgh learning together and growing as a unit. As coaches we are very proud of the team and can’t wait to see what they can do in the coming weeks.
“The Ross Sutherland game was a great starting point and we know that, whatever happens, every player is going to enjoy the Bowl experience and get a lot out of it.”
Banff and Fraserburgh are pictured – thanks to the clubs