Worcester Warriors Women, formerly known as Worcester Valkyries, are a women's

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

club in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

, England. They were founded in 1993, as Worcester Ladies, and play 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 ...

. They were originally created as the women's team of Worcester Wanderers, but became part of the English Premiership team

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors are a professional rugby union club based in Worcester, England. They most recently played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby union, before being suspended by the Rugby Football Union, RFU in September 2 ...

' organisation ahead of the 2016/17 season. They subsequently became an independent entity during the 2022–23 season on the demise of their parent company.

History

Worcester Ladies were formed in 1993 by Mark Edwards, who also set up women's rugby union teams at

Droitwich Droitwich Spa (often abbreviated to Droitwich ) is an historic spa town in the Wychavon district in northern Worcestershire, England, on the River Salwarpe. It is located approximately south-west of Birmingham and north-east of Worcester. ...

RFC and Malvern RFC. They initially played in the national leagues. In 1998, they were promoted into the Women's Premiership for the first time. Worcester Ladies has close links with the

University of Worcester The University of Worcester is a public research university, based in Worcester, England. With a history dating back to 1946, the university began awarding degrees in 1997 and was granted full university status in 2005. History In 1946 an Emerg ...

with some players playing for both Worcester Ladies and the University of Worcester's women's rugby union team. In 2013, Worcester Ladies won their first Women's Premiership title after a bonus-point victory against

Wasps Ladies Wasps Women are a women's rugby union based in Acton, London, England. They were founded in 1984 and play in the Premier 15s. They are the women's team of Wasps FC, who are affiliated to Premiership Rugby team Wasps. They play their home matches ...

to stop

Richmond Women Richmond Women, formally Finchley RFC, is a women's rugby union team based in Richmond, London, England. They were founded in 1986 and played in the Women's Premiership. They are also the women's team of Richmond F.C. History Richmond Women we ...

winning a fourth consecutive title. Worcester Ladies have a local rivalry with

Lichfield Ladies Lichfield Ladies Rugby Union Football Club is a women's rugby union club based in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. They play their home matches at Cooke Fields and play in the league below the Allianz Women’s Premiership, known as Championship ...

. Being affiliated to Worcester Warriors, Worcester Ladies play their home matches at Worcester Warriors'

Sixways Stadium Sixways Stadium is a stadium in Worcester, England. It is currently used for rugby union and association football matches and is the home stadium of Premier 15s side Worcester Warriors Women, football side Worcester Raiders F.C., Worcester Ra ...

. In August 2022, Warriors Women and the

agreed a multi-year landmark deal which would see the team renamed University of Worcester Warriors. Due to ongoing financial difficulties experienced in 2022. Worcester Warriors Women were suspended from all competitions on 26 September 2022 and the company was placed into administration. The suspension was temporarily lifted on 26 October when it was confirmed that University of Worcester Warriors had received funding and insurance to compete until Christmas 2022. In October 2023, Worcester withdrew from the

2023–24 Premiership Women's Rugby The 2023–24 Premiership Women's Rugby is the seventh season of Premiership Women's Rugby, the top-flight domestic women's rugby union club competition in England. Sponsored by Allianz for the fourth consecutive season, it is the first season ...

league and cup competitions. This decision was made after the club's owners, Cube International, chose to cut the team's funding.

Notable players

Worcester Ladies have had a number of internationals play for them. Joanne Yapp, Samantha Dale and Kat Marchant both played for the

England women's national rugby union team The England women's national rugby union team, commonly known as the Red Roses, represents England in women's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Women's Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales ...

. Former England women's captain, Catherine Spencer also played for Worcester. Donna Kennedy played for both Worcester and the

Scotland women's national rugby union team The Scotland women's national rugby union team represents Scotland in women's international rugby union and is governed by the Scottish Rugby Union. The team competes in the annual Women's Six National Championship and has competed in five of ...

, whom she earned 100 caps for. The current squad includes England internationals Lydia Thompson (rugby union), Laura Keates and Canadian international Paige Farries

Coaching

In 2010, Worcester Ladies hired former

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

player, Luke Fisher as their head coach. In June 2017, the Valkyries appointed former Bristol Ladies Head Coach Roy Davies as Director of Rugby In October 2019, former captain Jo Yapp took over as director of rugby

References

{{Premiership Women's Rugby Women's rugby union teams in England Rugby clubs established in 1993 Worcester Warriors 1993 establishments in England Premiership Women's Rugby teams