The Aylesford Bulls Ladies were rewarded this week for their excellent season with a training session by Gary Street, the Manager of England Women’s Rugby Team.

Street is the manager of one of the worlds most successful women’s rugby team at the moment. England have just won the RBS 6 nations for the 7th time and last year came runners up in the World Cup losing to New Zealand in a very close final.

Catherine Spencer, retired England captain and now an Aylesford Bull, was also at the session and was responsible for organising this unique opportunity for her team mates.

The Bulls have gone through the entire season unbeaten and will now face Plymouth Albion on April 29th in the promotion play off to decide who progresses to level 2, Championship South.

Watched on by Club Coach Max Melville-Brown, Street put the ladies through their paces with a series of drills designed to home their skills, but at the same time retaining an element of fun.

Following the session, Melville-Brown told KSN how he was thrilled to have had Street come down to Aylesford to give his side a boost ahead of the play-off:

“It’s been excellent. It just shows what Aylesford are trying to achieve as we want to be the best team in the county. We want to attract the best players and having Gary Street down shows what we can offer potential players and anyone looking to get involved.”

“We’ve put in a lot of hard work this season and the girls have been excellent. The new players that have come in have been really good. We’ve just got that one game to go now to get us to that next level and I think with our 100% record and finishing where we have it would be great for us to win.”

A season is a long time in any sport, but for the Bulls Ladies it has seen a remarkable turnaround and Melville-Brown feels it is all down to planning:

“It’s not that we have done anything massively different. All we’ve done is put in a good structure. I was involved in the men’s set up and was asked to come down and with the new structure it’s more professional. We’ve got 90% of the squad we had last year when we almost got relegated, but now we have got a game plan, along with intorducing some of the girls from the under eighteen’s and it’s all clicked together.”

Having spent an hour or so with the squad, Street told KSN how he was impressed with what he had seen and that Spencer could still pull on an England shirt:

“I’ve been really impressed with what I’ve seen. I haven’t seen most of these players before, but for me it’s pleasing to see what’s happening in clubs week in, week out which I don’t get to see enought these days.”

“There is some real talent here and there’s some real enthusiasm from how they approached the session.”

“Catherine and I have been close for a long time and as Captain and Coach we’ve been through a lot together. She asked me if I could do her a favour and come down. I would do anything for her and I am sure she is a great addition to the Bulls.”

“I think if we have a few emergencies it would be nice to think we could still get her in an England shirt!”

Being Manager of the England team, Street believes the game is in good shape and glad it is finally getting the attention it deserves:

“Without a doubt, we’re starting to get some good coverage. We got some good TV coverage and Sky are now showing our games. We are getting a much bigger profile and people are starting to see the game for what it is.”

“Clubs like Aylesford are where we get our players from and we need don’t have players at clubs like this on Tuesday and Thursday nights, we won’t have England players in the future.”

Now retired from international rugby, Catherine Spencer is enjoying turning out for the Aylesford Bulls Ladies, but admits she does miss the thrill of playing for England:

“There’s always temptation there. It’s been quite hard watching the six nations this year and not being out there on the pitch with the girls, but I certainly don’t miss getting up at six in the morning to go training.”

“There is some fantastic young talent coming through, especially in the back row and although I miss it, I think everyone does when they retire from whatever level, it’s nice to see that talent come through and I feel proud to see the way this England team are playing.”

Spencer was also thrilled to have caught up with her old boss and was thankful to Gary Street for taking the time out of his busy schedule to come down to Kent:

“It was nice that he came down and I’m sure the girls really enjoyed it. It was a bit weird having him here, but saying that I’ve really enjoyed playing for Aylesford this season, so it was good to be able to use my connections to get him to come down for the session.”

As for Aylesford’s remaining game against Plymouth at the end of the month, Spencer told KSN how she felt they could pick up the vital win:

“We’ve had a fantastic season and they haven’t been easy games. We’ve had to work hard and we’ve got a strong squad now with strength in depth, so if we can win the play-off it would be brilliant.”

“Aylesford do deserve to be in the Championship, even though we know it would be hard next season.”