A Griffith University team will participate in the first national Women’s University Rugby Sevens competition in 2017.
During the Rio Olympics, the ARU announced it was launching the national women’s sevens university competition, capitalising on the success of the Olympic gold-medal winning national team.
Griffith is one of eight university teams around the country to be named to take part in the national competition by the ARU.
Griffith Sports College Director Duncan Free OAM said he was delighted by the announcement.
“Being one of the teams selected nationally, it’s a privilege and we look forward to recruiting the best team possible in the New Year.”
He said they hoped Shannon Parry, a Bachelor of Education graduate and co-captain of the Australian women’s rugby sevens gold-medal winning team would be part of the Griffith team.
“ARU contracted players will be distributed among the eight teams along with the requirement that 50% of the team will be made up by university students.
“Having seen how many Griffith players were in the Australian University team in November, we are going to be well positioned, particularly with our collaborative approach,’’ he said.
“We’re partnering with Sunnybank Rugby and Griffith Colleges rugby clubs, so it’s another step in the right direction of being a stand-out sports university.
ARU CEO Bill Pulver said the Australian Women’s Sevens team were heroes for thousands of young girls and boys across the nation.
“On the back of their success, we will open up new Sevens pathways in schools, clubs and universities around the country so that more young girls and boys will have then chance to work towards their dream of representing their country at the Olympic Games.”