By ROY WARD
WOMEN’S rugby has more than its fair share of challenges when it comes to finding senior players in Victoria.
Despite its struggles the Victorian Rugby Union’s women’s competition keeps fronting up each season, and this year Melbourne Rugby Club will field a senior women’s side for the first time in a decade.
The Unicorns will return to competition with several team members coming from Monash Rugby Club’s side, which folded before the start of the previous season.
The Unicorns will play out of Orrong Park, Prahran, and train at Gardner Park, Glen Iris, Most of their players come from Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs.
Unicorns senior women’s coach Susan Konstanty has taken on the role after returning to Melbourne late last year.
She said the team was coming along well but new players were always welcome.
“Recruiting is always tough but we have managed to get a few players who have played before to make up the base of the team,” Konstanty said.
The VRU women’s league plays rugby sevens matches for the first six weeks of the season before playing full-scale 15-a-side matches for the final 12 weeks.
Sevens rugby is played with only seven players a side but remains on a full-side ground.
“It’s a good thing the season is split into two formats,” Konstanty said.
“It gives us time to teach new players and get them used to the game in a form that has a little less contact than the full-size matches.”
She paid tribute to the team’s founding players, who wanted to form a new club and went to the Unicorns and asked to join up.
Those players then worked on recruiting players to their team. “They wanted to grow the competition a bit, so they printed our flyers and started recruiting. They tried to get a few old Monash players and went from there.”
Konstanty is used to working on promoting rugby in new frontiers. She moved back to Melbourne from the Philippines, where she also coached women’s rugby.
“It’s a pretty new sport there as well,” Konstanty said with a laugh. “I’m doing the same sort of thing here, I guess.”
The Unicorns train at Gardner Park, Glen Iris, between 6.30 and 8.30pm every Tuesday.
Konstanty said new players were welcome at any point of the year, even during the season.
The VRU women’s season starts on March 16 and the team will train on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the season.
For more information call Konstanty on 0411 298 814
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