Worcester Warriors Women, currently known as the University of Worcester Warriors for partnership reasons, and formally known as Worcester Valkyries, are a women's

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

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, Englan ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

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

Premier 15s The Premier 15s, currently known for sponsorship purposes as the Allianz Premier 15s, is the top tier of the women's English rugby union domestic league system run by the Rugby Football Union (RFU). The league was created mainly from teams in t ...

. They were originally created as the women's team of

Worcester Wanderers Worcester Wanderers are an English rugby union team and part of the club known as Worcester Rugby Football Club. The club was born in 1871 and from it rose former Gallagher Premiership team Worcester Warriors. Worcester RFC based in the city o ...

, but became part of the

English Premiership The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

team

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in Administration (law), administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top ...

' organisation ahead of the 2016/17 season.

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. The ...

RFC and

Malvern RFC Malvern Rugby Football Club is a Rugby Union club based in the town of Malvern, Worcestershire, England. They currently play in Midlands 2 West (South) - a tier 7 league in the English rugby union system - after being relegated from Midlands 1 ...

. 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 , motto_lang = la , mottoeng = ''Aspire to Inspire'' , established = 1946 – Worcester Emergency Teacher Training College 1948 – Worcester Teacher Training College 1976 – Worcester College of Higher Education 1997 – ...

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 were ...

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 Women's Premiership. They are also the women's team of Lichfield Rugby ...

. 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, University of Worcester Warriors and football side ...

. 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.

Notable players

Worcester Ladies have had a number of internationals play for them.

Samantha Dale Samantha (or the alternatively Samanta) is primarily used as a feminine given name. It was recorded in England in 1633 in Newton Regis, Warwickshire. It was also recorded in the 18th century in New England, but its etymology is uncertain. Specu ...

and

Kat Marchant Kat or KAT may refer to: People * Kat Alano (born 1985), Anglo-Filipino model, actress, and television presenter/VJ in the Philippines * Kat Ashley (c1502–1565), governess to Queen Elizabeth I * Kat Bjelland (born 1963), American musician * K ...

both played for the

England women's national rugby union team The England women's national rugby union team, also 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. E ...

. Former England women's captain, Catherine Spencer also played for Worcester.

Donna Kennedy Donna Kennedy (born 16 February 1972) is a Scottish rugby union coach and former international player who played for the national team from 1993 to 2010. She was the world's most-capped women's player from 2004 to 2016 and the first Scottish p ...

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 t ...

, whom she earned 100 caps for. The current squad includes England internationals

Lydia Thompson (rugby union) Lydia Thompson (born 10 February 1992) is a member of the England Women's Rugby Team having made her debut in 2012. At club level, she plays for Worcester Warriors Women. International career Thompson made her debut for England in 2012, runni ...

Laura Keates Laura Keates (born 5 August 1988) is an English female rugby union player. Career Keates debuted for in 2011 and played at the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup in France. Keates captained the England Women's under 19 team in 2007. She injured her ...

and Canadian international Paige Farries

Coaching

In 2010, Worcester Ladies hired former

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

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

{{Premier 15s Women's rugby union teams in England Rugby clubs established in 1993 Worcester Warriors