Teri Watkins has been one of the driving forces behind women’s rugby in Tewkesbury for close on three decades.

She was one of the founding members of the ladies’ section at Tewkesbury RFC, she played for them regularly from 1994 up until 2008 and she captained them for three years.

These days she’s their team manager and fixtures secretary, and remains a hugely committed figure to the cause.

She’s also on Tewkesbury Rugby Club’s full committee – “She has been forever,” said her sister Lesley Neild – so it was richly deserved when the club made her their very first women’s life member in August.

“She’s done so much for the club over the years,” said Lesley, who is also one of the founder members of the club’s ladies’ section and a past captain.

So how did the ladies’ section come into being at a club where the men’s team were formed way back in 1950?

“We used to play netball for Dowty Ashchurch,” explained 63-year-old Teri.

“We used to go to Tewkesbury Rugby Club for a drink after matches, as did quite a few of the Tewkesbury hockey girls.

“We were all just talking one day when someone said, ‘Why don’t we start a women’s rugby team?’”

That someone was Maggie Cole, who, along with Teri, had started Dowty Ashchurch Netball Club back in 1978, so they had ‘form’ for starting up a sports team.

What they didn’t have was any experience of playing rugby, but that’s where Carolyn Goodey came in.

“She said, ‘I used to play rugby,’ and it went from there,” said Teri.

Carolyn was Tewkesbury’s first ever ladies’ captain but although things moved very quickly right from the get-go, Teri admits that initially she had misgivings.

“The ladies started training in February 1994, but I didn’t attend any of the early sessions,” said Teri, “I said I preferred to play netball.”

So what persuaded her to give rugby a go?

“Tewkesbury’s first game was against Cainscross and we only had 14 players so my sister said, ‘You’re playing’,” she recalled. 

So Teri, a full-back who later became a fly-half, made her rugby debut in her mid-30s and it’s fair to say she has never looked back.

“I was virtually a veteran before I’d ever caught a rugby ball,” she laughed.

“I remember the first time I was tackled, I thought, ‘I don’t like this!’, but I got up, dusted myself down and then I loved it.

“The first time I touched the ball I got the bug.”

And it was a similar story for Lesley.

“Rugby’s a great game,” she said. “I used to come off a netball court feeling frustrated, it’s supposed to be a non-contact sport but there was always plenty of contact.

“With rugby it’s all out there. You get thrown to the floor, you get tackled, you get pushed around, it’s all legal.

“Netball has rules which can be broken, rugby has laws and laws have to be abided by!”

The ladies’ section at Tewkesbury currently have one team who play in Women’s 2 South West (North) and they also have a junior girls’ section which is run by Sarah Hayes, an ex-women’s player and captain.

“We have 23 players signed on for the adults and 20 play regularly,” said Teri.

“The numbers are quite good, although we’re definitely on the lookout for new players for both the adults and the juniors.”

The ladies train every Wednesday at the club in Gander Lane, so what does women’s rugby have to offer for aspiring players?

“Comradeship,” said Teri, who is married to former Tewkesbury first-team player Kev Watkins.

“You can be arch-enemies on the pitch but at the end of the game you shake hands and we’re all friends in the bar.

“It’s a terrific game to play for people of all shapes and sizes, it gets your fitness levels up, it gets your skills up.

“Rugby is a game for life. There’s a proper team spirit in rugby, you don’t get prima donnas. You play because you don’t want to let the team down.”

Rugby clubs also tend to be built around families and Lesley was lucky enough to play a season with her daughter Kellyann Everis.

Kellyann is married to former Tewkesbury no 8 Shaun Everis who played in the same Tewkesbury team as Kev Watkins, a team which reached the last four of the RFU National Vase back in 2001 before losing out to Hoylake.

Shaun and Kellyann’s son Reece is the current 2^nd XV vice-captain, while Lesley’s husband Bill plays walking rugby at Tewkesbury.

And continuing the family theme, Teri’s son James was co-captain last season and is now vice-captain of the men’s flagship team.

The men’s captain Dan Hartnett, meanwhile, has over the past two seasons or so helped to coach the ladies alongside Emily Hatherell, who joined from Brockworth a couple of years ago.

The women’s team have co-captains this season – Kirstie Grimshaw and Zoe Gamble – and would love to welcome anyone experienced or new to rugby to training on Wednesdays.

So where does Teri see the ladies’ section in a few years’ time?

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to put out two adult teams and have a successful junior girls’ section,” she said.