Words by Michaela Taylor, Women & Girls Chair

With the Women's and Girls' sections at Ipswich Rugby thriving, we're super excited to share that not one but two of our superstars have this month been trialling for the England U18s squad.

Jess Taylor and Lily Messenger travelled down to Bisham Abbey, South East England, for
the first of two trials.

Both girls have been part of the RFU Girls Pathway since U15, having represented Eastern Counties and then going on to the Saracens and Loughborough development squads respectively.

Jess was also awarded the privilege of captaining her Centre of Excellence squad last season, as well as making an appearance with our Scorpions during their final league fixture to get her first taste of senior rugby.

Now you would expect anyone trialling for England to be a bag of nerves, but not these two. They were both cool, calm and collected, worked hard and showed exactly what they're made of.

Whilst there remains a little while to see if our girls will develop into fully fledged Roses, all at Ipswich Rugby are fully behind you and no matter the outcome we are all extremely proud of you. You're amazing role models to all Athenas who follow in your footsteps.