Sale Sharks Women

Last updated

Sale Sharks Women
Union Cheshire RFU
Founded2020
Ground(s) Heywood Road
Coach(es) Tom Hudson
Captain(s) Lauren Delany & Georgie Perris-Redding
League(s) PWR

Sale Sharks Women are a women's rugby union club based in Sale, Greater Manchester, England. They were founded in 2020 as the women's team of Premiership Rugby side Sale Sharks. They currently compete in Premiership Women's Rugby, the highest division of women's rugby union in England.

Contents

History

On 30 January 2020, Premiership Rugby side Sale Sharks announced that they would apply for place in the Premier 15s League ahead of the 2020–21 season, [1] committing £1 million over a three-year period to their women's section. [2] Their application was successful, [3] and on 6 April, Sale Sharks Women were entered into the league alongside Exeter Chiefs Women, replacing Waterloo and Richmond. [4]

Sale's application to be a part of the Premier 15s from the 2023/24 season onwards was initially rejected by the RFU. [5] The club would later receive a conditional offer to fill one of the two remaining places in the league in February 2023. [6]

At the end of the 2024/25 season, head coach Rachel Taylor and Louise Dalgliesh left the club's coaching setup, [7] with new head coach Tom Hudson being appointed in February 2025 to prepare for the upcoming 25/26 PWR season.

Home ground

Sale Sharks Women play their home matches at Heywood Road (currently named CorpAcq Stadium for sponsorship reasons) in Sale, Greater Manchester, and train at Carrington Lane, the Sale Sharks High Performance Centre owned by Sale FC. [8] In March 2024, the club played their first standalone game at the men's home venue, the Salford Community Stadium, and this was followed up with a double header at the ground in December 2024.

Season summaries

Season Summaries
LeagueCup
SeasonCompetitionFinal positionPointsPlay-offsCompetitionPerformance
2020–21 Allianz Premier 15s 9th19No competition
2021–22 Allianz Premier 15s 9th14 Allianz Cup 3rd in pool
2022–23 Allianz Premier 15s 7th35 Allianz Cup 7th
2023–24 Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby 8th13 Allianz Cup 6th
2024–25 Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby 9th4No competition

Gold background denotes champions
Silver background denotes runners-up

Current players

As of September 2023 [9]

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

PlayerPositionUnion
Scarlett Fielding Hooker Flag of England.svg England
Molly Kelly Hooker Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Wales
Marion Ridegway Hooker Flag of England.svg England
Niamh Swailes Hooker Flag of England.svg England
Molly Wright Hooker Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland
Catie Benson Prop Flag of the United States.svg United States
Detysha Harper Prop Flag of England.svg England
Elsbeth Innes Prop Flag of England.svg England
Alice Iwanejko Prop Flag of England.svg England
Nick James Prop Flag of the United States.svg United States
Erica Jarrell Prop Flag of the United States.svg United States
Sophie Lewis Prop Flag of England.svg England
Jessica Panayiotou Prop Flag of England.svg England
Gwenllian Pyrs Prop Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Wales
Evie Roach Prop Flag of England.svg England
Amber Schonert Prop Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa
Niamh Williams Prop Flag of England.svg England
Iona Antwis Lock Flag of England.svg England
Trudy Cowan Lock Flag of England.svg England
Vicky E Irwin Lock IRFU flag.svg Ireland
Molly Morrissey Lock Flag of England.svg England
Elizabeth Shermer Lock Flag of England.svg England
Morwenna Talling Lock Flag of England.svg England
Jo Brown Back row IRFU flag.svg Ireland
Alba Capell Back row Flag of Spain.svg Spain
Jasmine Hazell Back row Flag of England.svg England
Katie Moore Back row Flag of England.svg England
Sara Moreira Back row Flag of Portugal.svg Portugal
Georgie Perris-Redding (cc) Back row Flag of the United States.svg United States
Lucie Sams Back row Flag of England.svg England
Kay Searcy Back row Flag of England.svg England
PlayerPositionUnion
Willow Bell Scrum-half Flag of England.svg England
Olivia Ortiz Scrum-half Flag of the United States.svg United States
India Perris-Redding Scrum-half Flag of the United States.svg United States
Sofia Stefan Scrum-half Flag of Italy.svg Italy
Jess Taylor-Roberts Scrum-half Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Wales
Cara Cookland Fly-half Flag of England.svg England
Lizzie Duffy Fly-half IRFU flag.svg Ireland
Grace White Fly-half Flag of England.svg England
Robyn Wilkins Fly-half Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Wales
Hollie Bawden Centre Flag of England.svg England
Alicia Calton Centre Flag of England.svg England
Katana Howard Centre Flag of the United States.svg United States
Vicky A Irwin Centre IRFU flag.svg Ireland
Laura Perrin Centre Flag of England.svg England
Rachel Phillips Centre Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland
Beatrice Rigoni Centre Flag of Italy.svg Italy
Lauren Bolger Wing Flag of England.svg England
Frankie Harvey Wing Flag of England.svg England
Sophie Hopkins Wing Flag of England.svg England
April Ishida Wing Flag of England.svg England
Nikita Prothero Wing Flag of England.svg England
Ellen Ramsbottom Wing Flag of England.svg England
Holly Thorpe Wing Flag of England.svg England
Eva Wood Wing Flag of England.svg England
Lauren Delany (cc) Fullback IRFU flag.svg Ireland
Isobel McGuire-Evans Fullback Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland
Rachel Woosey Fullback Flag of England.svg England

Notable players

The following are players which have represented their countries at the Rugby World Cup whilst playing for Sale Sharks:

TournamentPlayers selected England playersOther national team players
2021 Flag of New Zealand.svg 11 Rachel McLachlan, Molly Wright, Sarah Law, Lisa Thomson Flag of Scotland.svg , Sara Tounesi Flag of Italy.svg , Carly Waters, Catie Benson, Georgie Perris-Redding, Joanna Kitlinksi, Katana Howard, Nick James Flag of the United States.svg

Club staff

RoleName
Head Coach Flag of England.svg Tom Hudson [10]
Assistant Coach Flag of England.svg Mark Cueto [11]
Defence Coach Flag of England.svg Charlie Beckett [12]
Scrum Coach Flag of England.svg Luke Stratford [13]
Lineout & Maul Coach Flag of England.svg Pete Anglesea [14]

References

  1. "Sale Sharks Enter Unchartered Waters with High Performance Women's Team Bid". Sale Sharks. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  2. Tomas, Fiona (6 April 2020). "Premier 15s clubs being underfunded, says Richmond board director". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  3. "Club Statement – Sale Sharks Women to join Tyrrells Premier 15's". Sale Sharks. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  4. "Tyrrells Premier 15s clubs until 2020 confirmed". Premier 15s. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  5. "Club Statement - Sale Sharks Women". Sale Sharks. 16 December 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  6. "Sharks Women receive conditional offer to join Premier 15s". Sale Sharks. 1 February 2023. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  7. Diamond, Sam (22 January 2025). "TAYLOR TO STEP DOWN FROM SHARKS WOMEN ROLE". Sale Sharks. Retrieved 28 February 2025.
  8. "About". Sale Sharks . Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  9. "Womens Archives". Sale Sharks. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  10. "Tom Hudson named women's Head Coach". Sale Sharks. 24 February 2025. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  11. "CUETO COMPLETES WOMENS COACHING TEAM". Sale Sharks. 28 February 2025. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  12. "Beckett second addition to women's line-up". Sale Sharks. 25 February 2025. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  13. "Luke Stratford joins women's coaching team". Sale Sharks. 26 February 2025. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  14. "Pete Anglesea joins Sharks Women coaching team". Sale Sharks. 27 February 2025. Retrieved 1 March 2025.