The Liverpool Collegiate Bluebirds are hoping the success of the Red Roses women in winning the World Cup will boost their numbers in their centenary season.
With the women’s side targeting promotion from the National Challenge Three North West division this season, they are holding a trial session on Thursday, October 9 to encourage a new crop of female rugby players in Merseyside.
Following the hugely successful Rugby World Cup on home soil, with the final bringing a record attendance of more than 80,000 to Twickenham, clubs are hoping to build on England’s success.
French Fullback Chloe Miossec, 29, has been one of the key figures in driving the growth of the Bluebirds, and she is determined to talk about the benefits of women’s rugby.
Chloe said: “It really increases someone’s confidence, tenfold, it gives you a voice that you don’t particularly have.
“That’s the best evolution that I love to see throughout a year is when you have a newbie, they’re not particularly expressive or they’re not very, extraverted and then you see them like coming out of their shells.”
The key for the Bluebirds was that the players haven’t been working on their craft from the age they could walk, like a typical sporting success story, but in fact plenty of the players haven’t picked up a ball until their adult years.
One of those players, Georgia Ridout, 26, started playing when she was 21 but fully embraces the empowerment of playing rugby as a woman.
Georgia said: “At work, I’ve got quite a manual labour job, but they are like, ‘Oh, you play rugby, so you’ve got big muscles’ and it’s just like, yeah, I do! and I can do what you can do as well.
“It just grows you as a person, and you create these bonds with people and friendships so you know that you can lean on someone, it’s not just a sport it is a community that you’re building as well.”
The team camaraderie was evident to see, with the pouring rain not holding back a strong group of 20 at the team training session, full of laughs and jokes and a clear enjoyment for getting stuck in, something that can get lost currently in sports.
Yes, it really did happen 🤩🏆#RedRoses | #RWC2025 pic.twitter.com/EOcR810Jst
— Red Roses (@RedRosesRugby) September 28, 2025
The World Cup also provided plenty of opportunity for players to not only watch international rugby live, but also get involved.
Ellie Rylands, 29, said: “It was very well organised, and they put out really obvious searches for volunteers and calls for people to volunteer.
“There was a number of people in our team who did that and they got literally everything. They got so much merch, so their enthusiasm for it and being really well looked after and valued, then reflects by it because then it’s something that everybody’s passionate about.”
When discussing the World Cup, one name unsurprisingly jumped out as the face of Women’s rugby, Ilona Maher.
The most followed Rugby player in the world, with nearly 9 million across her platforms, Maher was become a role model and household name, with her abilities on the pitch supplemented by her social media status and drive to promote women’s sport.
Chloe said: “I think Ilona Maher has definitely changed the game, she completely did it. Having a representation of a woman’s body that is not a stereotypical beautiful body, and like we feel represented as well.”
Ellie said: “Ilona is bringing other people like Sarah Burns, Ellie Kildunne, they’ve found that platform that she’s created and the platform’s getting wider.
“There’s space for all sorts of women’s rugby players to be championed. It’s not just ‘oh we’ll just pick one,’ It’s actually by picking one, you’re bringing up everybody at the same time.”
The Liverpool Collegiate Bluebirds will hope on the back of a World Cup that stamped Women’s Rugby on the sporting map, the team can flourish and and embrace a new generation of players.
