Head coach Paul Beard delighted with Boston Rugby Club Ladies' inaugural season

Paul Beard is delighted with how Boston Rugby Club Ladies’ first campaign panned out... stating the squad accomplished their three pre-season goals.

The coronavirus may have halted action earlier than hoped, but the head coach says his side can be pleased with their achievements.

“It was our first season and we set our aims around recruitment, development and making memories,” Beard told The Standard.

“We did that and hopefully next season we can do the same, maybe make some performance related aims as well.

“As our league is also a bit of a development league, you are allowed to borrow players from other teams. But we wanted to establish ourselves and play a minimum of 15 of our own players. We did that every game, which was a big win.”

“We also wanted to grow the team and we went from having 20 ladies to about 40. Thirty-five ladies played a minimum of five or more games.”

The Blue and Whites were awarded third place in the National Challenge 2 North East as the campaign was forced to finish early.

“I think that was fair,” Beard reflected.

“We were second at the time and, looking at the fixtures, we could have finished third, possibly second.

“But at the end of the day that’s not the main thing. We set our aims and we achieved them.”

Away trips to face opposition in York, Driffield and Hull, among others, demanded commitment from the team, but the head coach was more than happy with his side’s attitude to the long treks north.

“The commitment to the team, in training and matches was fantastic,” he added.

“The team put a lot of pressure on themselves early on as they were playing in a new league.

“The match day was different, the referees ware a different standard. But they came together and were a credit to themselves.

“We didn’t know how we would fare against other sides but one of my favourite matches was away at York, who had come down from the league above and have a good, established ladies’ section.

“We went there and drew 15-15 scoring in the last play of the game. Then we had a good knees up on thee way home.”