Harlequins Women

Harlequins Women

Full name	Harlequins Women
Union	RFU
Nickname(s)	Quins
Founded	1995 (reformed in 2017)
Ground(s)	Twickenham Stoop Surrey Sports Park
Coach(es)	Ross Chisholm [1]

Harlequins Women, formerly known as Harlequins Ladies, are a women's rugby union club based in Guildford, Surrey, England and in Twickenham, Middlesex, England. They were founded in 1995 as the women's team of Harlequin F.C. and rebranded in 2017 after merging with Aylesford Bulls. In 2017, they were selected as one of the franchises for the new Premier 15s league, but they also cater for new, aspiring and social players within their 3rd XV squad.

History

Beginnings

Harlequins Ladies were founded in 1995 as the women's team of Harlequin F.C. They initially played their home games at Centaurs RFC, Grasshoppers RFC, Old Isleworthians RFC ^[2] and at Harlequins' previous training base at Richardson Evans Memorial Playing Fields in Roehampton. They won their first league title unbeaten and were subject of a Channel 4 documentary. ^[3]

In 2000, they were promoted to Rugby Football Union for Women Division 1. ^[4] However, they were later relegated from top flight. ^[5] Following the RFUW restructuring the leagues in 2007, Harlequins Ladies were placed in Championship 2 South East. ^[6] In 2017, they competed in the National 2 South East league. ^[7]

Reformation

In 2016, Harlequins announced a partnership with Women's Premiership club Aylesford Bulls Ladies. The agreement stated that Aylesford Bulls would become a part of Harlequins and would wear their colours ^[8] but initially retain their name and at first split their matches between Aylesford, Kent and Harlequins' Twickenham Stoop. ^[9] However the elite squad later moved to be permanently based at Surrey Sports Park at the University of Surrey in Guildford, with the 3s maintaining their links with the local area and keeping Old Isleworthians RFC as their training and playing base. ^[10] Although in 2021, Harlequins Women 3XV moved to Hampton Wick Royal Cricket Club and formed Harlequin Amateurs Women. In 2017, Harlequins Ladies were awarded a franchise for the new Women's Super League, later renamed Premier 15s. In doing so, Harlequins fully took over Aylesford Bulls Ladies with Harlequins being confirmed for the new league in a full merger and would cease using the Aylesford Bulls name. ^{[8] [11] [12] [13]}

In July 2019, they changed their name to Harlequins Women. ^[14]

Record attendance

On 10 March 2018, Harlequins Women played in front of a crowd of 4,545 spectators during a game against local rivals Richmond Women at Twickenham Stoop, establishing a record attendance for a British women's club rugby match. ^{[15] [16]}

The following season, on 30 March 2019, they beat their own record with an attendance of 4,837 for their last regular season league match of the Premier 15s season against Gloucester-Hartpury. ^{[17] [16]}

Ground

Harlequins Women play their home league matches at Twickenham Stoop

In their early years they played most of their home matches at Surrey Sports Park in Guildford, Surrey. However, each season they played an increasing number of fixtures at Twickenham Stoop with four times in the 2017–18 season and a further six times in 2019–20. ^[16] For the 2023–23 season, Twickenham Stoop became their home for league matches.

On 30 August 2018, it was announced that the Harlequins Women 3rd XV squad would be playing their home matches at the brand new facilities at Grasshoppers RFC. ^[18]

Current squad

For player movements before or during the 2023–24 season, see List of 2023–24 Premiership Women’s Rugby transfers § Harlequins.

The Harlequins Women squad for the 2021–22 season is: ^[19]

Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player Position Union Gillian Bourke Hooker Ireland Lauren Brooks Hooker England Davinia Catlin Hooker England Amy Cokayne Hooker England Chloe Edwards Hooker England Leah Lyons Hooker Ireland Shaunagh Brown Prop England Sheree Cooper Prop England Vickii Cornborough Prop England Tove Viksten Prop Sweden Rosie Dobson Prop England Megan Brodie Lock Courtney Dobson Lock Jenny Eyre Lock Fiona Fletcher Lock Katy Mew Lock Rebecca Piddlesden Lock Abbie Ward (née Scott) Lock England Alice Sheffield Lock Sarah Beckett Back row England Jade Konkel Back row Scotland Anna Caplice Back row Ireland Kiri Lose Back row Samantha McCarthy Back row Bethan Dainton Back row Wales Emily Robinson Back row England Kate Jenkins Number 8

Player Position Union Bobbie Haywood Scrum-half England Lucy Packer Scrum-half England Leanne Riley Scrum-half England Ellie Green Fly-half England Victoria Petersson Fly-half Sweden Emily Scott Fullback England Rachael Burford Centre England Laura Dowsett Centre Izzy Mayhew Centre Jade Mullen Centre Beth Wilcock Centre England Lagi Tuima Centre England Samantha White Centre England Jessica Breach Wing England Megan Brown Wing United States Laura Venclova Wing Charlotte Wellbelove Wing Ella Amory Wing Belgium Heather Cowell Fullback England Chloe Rollie Fullback Scotland Emogene Sutton Fullback Ellie Miles Utility back England

Club staff

Coaching staff

^[1]

Role	Name
Head Coach	Ross Chisholm

Season summaries

	League
Season	Competition	Final position	Points	Play-offs
2017–18	Tyrrells Premier 15s	2nd	76	Runners–up
2018–19	Tyrrells Premier 15s	2nd	77	Runners–up
2019–20	Tyrrells Premier 15s	2nd	57	Season annulled
2020–21	Allianz Premier 15s	2nd	73	Champions
2021–22	Allianz Premier 15s	4th	61	Semi-Final
2022–23	Allianz Premier 15s	5th	55
2023–24	Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby	7th	29

Gold background denotes champions
Silver background denotes runners-up
Pink background denotes relegated

Club honours

Harlequins Women

• Premier 15s
  • Champions 2020–21
  • Runners–Up: (2) 2017–18, 2018–19

References

1. "Harlequins Confirm Women's Coaching Change". 12 July 2024. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
2. "Aylesford Bulls Ladies 77–0 Harlequins Ladies". Kent Sports News. 10 October 2011. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
3. "Anguish? They All Had a Bawl in the Square!". The People (London, England). 24 November 1996 – via TheFreeLibrary.
4. "Player profile – Mel Antao". Official.sportnetwork.net. 23 April 2006. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
5. "Harlequin Ladies Fixtures 2006/7". Rugbynetwork.net. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
6. "How it all began: A brief history of HLFC". Official.sportnetwork.net. 2 September 2009. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
7. "East London women launch recruitment drive". Newham Recorder. 16 March 2016. Archived from the original on 30 March 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
8. Richard Parry (28 February 2017). "Women's Super Rugby: Harlequins Ladies offered place in the newly formed competition". Evening Standard. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
9. Tucker, Craig (10 June 2016). "Aylesford Bulls Ladies Rugby Club announce partnership with Harlequins and set sights on European domination". Kent Online. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
10. "Aylesford Bulls Ladies". Women's Premiership. 24 March 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
11. "England reveal top new women's competition". Scrum Queens. 6 January 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
12. "Girls Rugby catching on" (PDF). SW Londonder. 1 March 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 July 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
13. admin (14 September 2017). "Catherine Spencer: Litchfield will get new chance to join in 2019". The Rugby Paper.
14. "Harlequins Ladies renamed Harlequins Women". Harlequin F.C. 30 July 2019. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
15. "Harlequins 14-12 Richmond: Record crowd watches women's club game". BBC. 10 March 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
16. "Harlequins Women and Girls Rugby". Harlequin F.C. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
17. "Tyrrells Premier 15s: Record crowd sees Quins into play-offs". BBC. 30 March 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
18. "Harlequins Ladies 3rd XV set for new home". Harlequin F.C. 30 August 2018. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
19. "Current Players". Harlequin F.C. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2020.