Stewartry celebrations joined by trio of Scotland players

Scotland’s Women’s Rugby World Cup stars Elis Martin and Rachel McLachlan joined the club’s festivities, spending the morning watching the U12 Girls in action, along with teams from Cambuslang, Ayr, Cumnock, and Marr.

The duo stayed on to watch Stewartry’s U16 girls match against Biggar, and in the afternoon saw the senior teams take to the field as Stewartry Sirens welcomed Ayr ladies to Greenlaw in their second home match of the season.

Elis and Rachel watched, eagle-eyed, and selected their players of the match from either side – Hannah Sainsbury (Stewartry) and Shelly Main (Ayr) got the nod and were presented with their player of the match awards.

Following the matches, Glasgow Warriors and Scotland player Alex Craig teamed up with Tracy Martin from Quality Meat Scotland to demonstrate a cooking lesson for the U16 Girls from both Biggar and Stewartry.

Lauren Nicholson, Director of Women and Girls Rugby at SRFC said:

“Tracy and Alex did a fantastic job of making it a fun day for all whilst educating the girls on nutrition for sport.

“We also had a rowing competition going to see if anyone could beat Alex Craig’s 100m row time – the lucky winner bagged themselves a pair of tickets to a Glasgow Warriors game.”

The three internationalists met many of the 120 women and girls in attendance. Elis and Rachel gifted the club a “large stash” of their Scotland Women kit, which the girls were delighted with and will treasure.

In return the Stewartry Sirens presented a hamper to both Elis and Rachel, full of Dumfries and Galloway goodies, and a few items to help them remember their day at Greenlaw.

Rachel McLachlan said about the day:

“We had a really lovely time meeting the players and kids and chatting away to them about rugby and life. We took part  – and lost – in a rowing challenge too.

“But the whole day had a really lovely vibe. Everyone was so, so kind to us and it was great to see some good rugby on show too. The hamper they gave us was so beautiful too and we just loved it, so thank you to the club for hosting us,” she said.

Lauren said:

“The growth of women and girls rugby at Stewartry is outstanding at the moment. We are providing opportunities for females to play rugby from P1 to senior rugby, and providing pathways for female referees, coaches, volunteers, and club leaders.

Our committee is 50/50 male and female, led by our female club president and we now have female coaches across girls rugby and in our senior womens team. We want the club to be more than a short player career to our members, and instead want to empower females to be involved in rugby in any capacity whilst create lasting memories like Sunday for the players to ‘see what they can be’.”