Three senior women players from the Fergus Highland Rugby Club have their sights set on a coveted spot on Canada’s national team in anticipation of the 2014 World Cup of Rugby to be held in France.
Morganne Linthwaite, Jane Kirby and Caitlin Beaton have been teammates together for eight years as members of the Highland Rugby Club, University of Guelph’s women’s rugby team and Rugby Ontario.
Last August the athletes attended the National Senior Women’s Camp where they learned their goals to play at a national level may be closer than they realized.
As members of the Team Canada program, the women will be able to continue to train and prepare for the 2014 IRB (International Rugby Board) Women’s Rugby World Cup (WRWC), which will be held in Marcoussis and Paris.
There are six automatic qualifiers for WRWC 2014: reigning world champion New Zealand, 2010 runner up England, 2010 bronze medalist Australia, 2014 hosts France, and the U.S. and Canada by virtue of their top six placing in 2010.
“These are exciting times for Women’s Rugby and Women’s Rugby World Cup is the premier event in the women’s game, providing the platform for growing the sport across the world and building on the record broadcast and attendances we saw in London two years ago,” said Rugby World Cup Limited chairman Bernard Lapasset, in a press release. “As we look to France 2014, the qualification process will ensure the very best teams from across the world will meet in Paris, and we have created an opportunity for more teams than ever before to achieve their Rugby World Cup dream.”
In the next two years, athletes of the national senior women’s team will be expected to pay $15,000 each to play and compete for Canada.
For Linthwaite, Kirby and Beaton, raising the funds is vital to their goals and they plan to approach it with the same sense of teamwork they use on the rugby pitch.
“Even as our goals extend beyond our athletic careers at the University of Guelph, we will never forget the success we’ve had playing together,” said Linthwaite.
“We plan to extend this same teamwork to motivate us during training, competition and fundraising.”
To support their own players, the Fergus Highland Rugby Club is holding an event at the Victoria Park Fieldhouse on March 16.
“The St. Paddy’s Party” begins at 5pm and features live music, food provided by Fraberts Fresh Food, and an opportunity to meet the players.
Admission is $5 per person or $15 for a family. For more information visit www.highlandrugbyclub.com.
