England set for success at the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2010

from  Health and Fitness:

Before the Women’s Rugby World Cup kicks off August 20, 2010, H&F’s Sian Lewis got in the scrum during an England team training session at the Saracens’ training ground in St Albans, Hertfordshire.

Nike’s Brian Cochrane leads the warm-upThe team has an excellent chance for success on home soil at the Rugby World Cup this year, and I was excited about the prospect of getting a sneak preview of its training sessions with head coach Gary Street and lead strength and conditioning coach Dan Howells. For the warm up, Nike Master Trainers, Sonja Moses andBrian Cochrane put us through our paces, rugby girls included, with drills including knee lifts, high kicks, sprints and squats – the kind of exercises you can expect from a Nike Training Club (www.nikewomen.com). After a quick lesson in passing and footwork skills with Dan, Gary split us into two groups for a game of touch rugby. The teams were split evenly between non-rugby players and the pros and I’m happy to say my team won having scored the most trys!

After a spot of lunch we had a chance to get to know the players a bit more and I had a chat to full-back Danielle Waterman (a.k.a Nolly). Aged 25, Nolly works as a school sports co-ordinator and has just returned to training after a knee injury. All of the girls receive some funding from the English Institute of Sport, but all work either part-time or full-time to pay the bills. The team has now started a six-week training programme to get them into peak fitness ahead of the World Cup in August.

Danielle (aka Nolly) WatermanNolly says, ‘If you want to start playing rugby, then strength training, lifting weights and having a good aerobic base, through interval training on the bike, treadmill and cross trainer, will help. But nothing will give you a better taste of the action than getting out there on the pitch.’

The Women’s Rugby World Cup will be held at the multi-million pound Surrey Sports Park in Guildford and the semi-finals and final at The Stoop, Twickenham. For more information and to book tickets, visit www.rwcwomens.com. Games will also be shown live on Sky Sports.

To find a women’s rugby team near you, visit the RFU website.

The road to the World Cup is paved for YOU! Check out travel packages to England for the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup here.