Uncategorised

The Sydney Uni Women’s Rugby Club (SUWRC) is excited to announce the coaching team of Louise Ferris and Alexandra Hargreaves for the 2014 season.

Ferris and Hargreaves will take over from Rod Cutler, who spent two years at the club before signing on as coach of the men’s 1st grade Parramatta Two-Blues.

Ferris coached the blue and gold women of Sydney Uni in 2011, taking them through the season undefeated before being the team was crowned as champions of the Sydney Women’s Rugby Competition.

Her rugby resume is also littered with achievements as a player. As a halfback with West Harbour, Ferris won seven women premierships between 1998-2005. She has captained both ACT and NSW representative squads, including a tour to NZ. Ferris earned national selection in the inaugural Australian women’s team in 1994, she played in two World Cups, and she was captain for two test matches against England.

These outstanding achievements have led to multiple rugby scholarships with the NSW Academy of Sport and the 2001 Sydney Morning Herald Player of the Year Award.

Her coaching resume is also awfully impressive. Following her retirement from representative rugby in 2005, Ferris was assigned to coach school girls in Ottawa Canada, before she returned to Sydney to coach the Sydney Convicts 1st and 2nd Grade men’s teams.

After her 2011 success with the Sydney Uni women’s team, Ferris became the first woman to hold a premier club head coaching position when she was appointed as West Harbour’s men’s 1st grade colts head coach. Her team finished third in the Shute Shield competition.

Ferris returns to Sydney Uni after assisting the development of NSW schoolgirl’s rugby union and a wedding in New Zealand. Training has started off with Ferris emphasising that she wants to take women’s rugby to the next level and the ladies are already feeling the intensity and passion that she brings to the pitch.

Assistant coach Alexandra Hargreaves, a Sydney Uni woman herself, will line up with Ferris in season 2014. Hargreaves’s career highlights include being selected for the Australian 15 a side team at the 2002 World Cup. She was captain of the NSW representative team that beat Queensland, before securing the Wallaroo number seven jersey that she held onto until her retirement in 2011 where the team finished third at the World Cup in London.

Hargreaves speaks of her sevens career as an “amazing ride”. In 2007 she was selected for the first ever Australian women’s sevens team and played in every tournament thereafter, including the 2009 World Cup which the team won. 
 
Her passion for rugby is clear in every conversation she has and every training session she takes and her love of the game stems from the lifelong friends she’s found playing at club and international level. Her rugby career has even led her to her relationship with partner and fellow Aussie Wallaroo (and Uni player) Iliseva Batibasaga.

Keep an eye out for the SUWRC squad this season because it looks to be an extremely promising one.

Menu