Respect to the North Shropshire Barbarians!

PS Partnerships are proud to sponsor the newly formed U-12 North Shropshire Barbarians for their first every rugby tour!

The team consists of 11- and 12-year-olds that only started playing rugby in Sep 22, although a couple of the girls have played in mixed teams as younger children.

England RFU rules direct that when girls enter the U12 age bracket that they must play as a single gender team.  This causes issues for all teams and their girl’s cohorts, as limited interest or draw to other sports creates difficulties in generating 15 girls to play for a team.

This issue is mirrored across the country and takes a few years before the slightly more senior teams can generate a full side of 15 players plus substitutes.

As parents and with the support of our clubs, the answer was to combine the interested girls from the U12 teams of Shrewsbury, Oswestry, Whitchurch, Telford, Newport and Bridgnorth to create the North Shropshire Barbarians – yes we realise that Bridgnorth is not in North Shropshire!

This tour enabled these young players to foster their love of the game and the wider next generation of female players.  Who knows, our support may lead to one of our girls joining the ranks of the next Ladies home nations international teams, like some of the U18 Ladies here in Shrewsbury embarking on their England International careers and one of the Oswestry U18 Ladies starting with Wales.

Sponsoring a local team such as North Shropshire Barbarians, is important to PS Partnerships as recognise the benefits of local grassroots sports to the general health and wellbeing of communities.

Good luck North Shropshire Barbarians for the upcoming season!