Sale Sharks Women are a

women's rugby union Women's rugby union is a full contact team sport based on running with the ball in hand. The same laws are used in men's rugby union with the same sized pitch and same equipment. Women's rugby has become popular recently. These days, women's r ...

club based in

Sale, Greater Manchester Sale is a town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It is on the south bank of the River Mersey, south of Stretford, northeast of Altrincham, and southwest of Manchester. Sale lies within the Historic counties of England, historic count ...

, England. They were founded in 2020 as the women's team of

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...

side

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as ...

. They currently compete in

Premiership Women's Rugby Premiership Women's Rugby – officially known as Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby or The Allianz PWR – is an annual semi-professional women's rugby union club competition at the highest level of the English rugby union system, and is run b ...

, the highest division of women's rugby union in England.

History

On 30 January 2020,

side

announced that they would apply for place in the

Premier 15s Premiership Women's Rugby – officially known as Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby or The Allianz PWR – is an annual semi-professional women's rugby union club competition at the highest level of the English rugby union system, and is run ...

League ahead of the 2020–21 season, committing £1 million over a three-year period to their women's section. Their application was successful, and on 6 April, Sale Sharks Women were entered into the league alongside

Exeter Chiefs Women Exeter Chiefs Women are a professional women's rugby union team based in Exeter, Devon, England. They were founded in 2019 to take part in the Premier 15s, the top level of English women's rugby. They are based at Sandy Park and are affiliated t ...

, replacing

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces * Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Australia * Waterloo, New South Wale ...

and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

. Sale's application to be a part of the Premier 15s from the 2023/24 season onwards was initially rejected by the RFU. The club would later receive a conditional offer to fill one of the two remaining places in the league in February 2023. At the end of the 2024/25 season, head coach Rachel Taylor and Louise Dalgliesh left the club's coaching setup, 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 Heywood Road (currently known as CorpAcq Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a multi-use rugby stadium in Sale, Greater Manchester, England, which has been the home ground of rugby union side Sale F.C. since 1905. It was the home ground of sp ...

(currently named CorpAcq Stadium for sponsorship reasons) in

, and train at Carrington Lane, the

High Performance Centre owned by Sale FC. In March 2024, the club played their first standalone game at the men's home venue, the

Salford Community Stadium The Salford Community Stadium is a rugby stadium in Barton-upon-Irwell, England, built to replace Salford rugby league club's ground the Willows for the 2012 season. Sale Sharks rugby union club have also played at the stadium since the 2012� ...

, and this was followed up with a double header at the ground in December 2024.

Season summaries

Gold background denotes champions
Silver background denotes runners-up

Current players

''As of September 2023''

Notable players

The following are players which have represented their countries at the

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

whilst playing for Sale Sharks:

Club staff

* As of 1 March 2025, for the 2025–26 season.

References

External links

Sale Sharks Women on Twitter

Sale Sharks Women on Facebook

Sale Sharks Women on Instagram
{{Premiership Women's Rugby Sale Sharks Women's rugby union teams in England Rugby clubs established in 2020 2020 establishments in England Premiership Women's Rugby teams