Gloucestershire Women will step out at Twickenham for the first time in their history on Sunday.

They take on Sussex Women in the Gill Burns Division 3 County Championship final and team manager Nathan Smallcombe said: “The girls are thrilled to bits, they’re buzzing, we all are.”

The game kicks off at 1pm and the girls have certainly impressed on their way to the final, beating last season’s winners Dorset and Wiltshire 41-0 at Royal Wootton Bassett, before thumping Somerset 85-7 and Middlesex 52-17.

Both those games were at Shaftesbury Park, the home of Dings Crusaders, and Smallcombe said: “Getting to the final is a big deal, it’s fantastic.”

And it’s also a big deal for Cheltenham North, whose players will make up 18 of the 23-strong match-day squad.

The North have just won Women’s NC 2 South West (North), winning all 12 of  their games, and their captain, prop Hannah Kibble, will lead Gloucestershire out at the home of English rugby.

Smallcombe is Cheltenham North’s ladies’ pathway manager - he’s also women’s and girls’ lead for Gloucestershire – and while he is proud to see so many North players representing Gloucestershire, he said: “I am not involved in selection, it’s important to say that.

“We have independent selectors from rugby pathways in colleges and universities and many are not Gloucestershire-based, creating an selection process.”  

About 70 of Cheltenham North’s supporters are expected to make the trip to Twickenham and Smallcombe continued: “It’s massive for the club, seven of the players have come through the players’ pathway.

“They’d have started at the club when they were 13 or 14.

“A lot of the credit goes to Ian Parker and John Poulton. They are the coaches who started the girls’ section at Cheltenham North and invested in it.

“The club will be playing in Women’s NC 1 South West next season and they want to win promotion again.”

Gloucestershire, who are expected to be cheered on by at least 120 supporters on Sunday, were playing in Division 2 last season, Smallcombe’s first as team manager.

They are coached by Frampton Cotterell’s Andy Jarrett and Cheltenham North’s Mark French.