Of the many things we are famous for at the College, one is our proficiency in the great art of overtaking the student bar and Walkabout on Wednesday nights. But, as is tradition, we use the final month before the Varsity match against UCL to build up our fitness and strength.
This year we have decided to donate the money we would otherwise have spent on socials to Macmillan Cancer Support. Macmillan is a great charity, providing support for people who are living with cancer right now. And we want to encourage everyone to join us in supporting this amazing cause!

Stay tuned.

We have teamed up with our counterparts at KCL Men's Rugby team for a good cause this Christmas.
On December 6th, we will participate in the GRIM Challenge, which is an 8 mile obstacle course with lots of challenges and room for plenty of team bonding (and sore muscles). Just another day at the rugby office!
But this time, it's for a cause that both teams find very close to our hearts: the charity Headfirst, which raises awareness for head injuries and brain damages, something that happens way too often in our sport, unfortunately. Both teams have felt the effects of this, as the Men's Angus Swanson suffered from a major head injury in 2013 and KCLWRFC's greatest supporter Joanne Smith suddenly died of a spontaneous brain haemorrhage in 2014.
We look to raise £650, so please donate generously to this amazing cause and support us in the GRIM Challenge!

Arguably the major highlight of the term is the annual initiation of our new members! This ancient ritual of loyalty, respect and enormous fun was even greater this year as we initiated the biggest bunch of Freshers EVER and we are so happy to be welcoming you all into the KCLWRFC family. Arranged in total secrecy by dutiful social sec Liz O., the theme was ready: Heaven to Hell! Our pure younglings were equipped with white t shirts and matching halos and wings, while old girls were sneaky little devils. As the night moved on, we went through the seven deadly sins and watched as the virtuous and once promising young ladies corrupted themselves in gluttony, pride, envy and so on. Shout-out to old girl Claire aka. Moses who received special treatment in the shape of 10 commandments as reward for being an old newbie as she wasn't initiated last year.

Mothers gave birth to their rugby daughters and here are the happy outcomes:
Amy C: Charlotte and Jas
Camille: Ally and Hanna
Katie: Claire and Lucy
Amy S: Mermaid and Lauren
Georgina: Tara
Celina: Bethan and Helena C
Helena W: Kendal and Emma H
Paz: Alice
Ana: Diane and Emma V
Hailey: Gabbie
Liz O: Helen and Ellie
Becky: Sara
Lynn: Philippa

The annual Alumni game is always one of the most fun event of the year where our old girls rejoin us for one match – as the opposition! This year at Honor Oak Park the weather was particularly awful, but spirits were high as our new freshers were eager to play and both teams were excited to be catch up after a long summer.

Because of the lack of alumni forwards, scrums had to be uncontested, which was unfortunately in Alumni favour as our scrum is definitely one of our biggest attributes. On the up side, this saved the forwards energy for tackling and defence, which after a sloppy start really became more organised with tackles going lower and hits getting bigger. Particularly our freshers showed commitment and determination as they thrust themselves into what for most of them was their first real taste of the game.

Our practically new back line with Jas as 12 and a vocal Claire as 10 showed great potential for development with their confidence and dare and helped in defence as much as forwards. They definitely laid the groundwork for moving into more advanced passing and moves in the future. Old girls continuously supported and directed, which was a great factor in our improved play. Once again: rugby is learning by doing! We saw this particularly when we only were penalised twice, which is really impressive considering the experience of the team. The same can’t be said about the alumni girls (looking at you, Sara Eskola) who awarded us many metres of free play throughout the match.

Unfortunately, we could not keep up with the long legs of ex-president Lilly and the experience of our alumni who have played together for so many years. In the end, we had to grant them a win, but not without mutual feelings of pride and respect.

After the post-game cheer, we all gathered around for the awarding of the very first Joanne Smith Award for Dedication, Selflessness and Adversity in memory of alumni Alice and Emily Smith’s mother Joanne who passed away this summer. The award was presented to current captain Lynn Januszewski. Joanne was an immensely loved part of the team and her support and kindness will continue to be part of the KCLWRFC spirit.

Finally, thanks for coming out to play a great game, whether you were fresher, senior, alumni or ‘old girl’!

Result: Currently unsure, but a lot of alumni tries (if anyone knows, please message Celina)
Forward of the match: Helen
Back of the match: Jasmine
Joanne Smith Award for Dedication, Selflessness and Adversity: Lynn

September is upon us along with a new bunch of Freshers. KCLWRFC is excited to welcome Freshers as well as senior King's students to our Start of Season. If you've always eyed our players around campus and events and wanted to join - guess what? It's never too late! We'd like to invite every single one of you to the following events as part of KCLSU's Freshers' Month:

18-19th: KCLSU Freshers' Fair at the Barbican Centre
We'll have stalls with the Men's team in the sports club section. Come and meet us face to face!

19th, 5.30pm: O2 Touch in Tabard Gardens, SE1 4LA
The very first O2 Touch session of the year. Come and get a taste of touch with others for an hour, where we train the basics and fitness along with the Men's team.

19th, 8pm: Welcome drinks at Waterfront Bar & Kitchen (Macadam Building)
Have a drink with the team and each other in the relaxed and chatty setting of our beloved Waterfront and its enticing view.

21st, 12pm: Touch session in St James's Park
We'll meet up at the Charing Cross tube station and we'll have an afternoon of a casual introduction to rugby and post-game drinks (on us!)

We hope to see as many as possible as once again: We can't wait to see you!

 - Celina Digebjerg, Media Sec.

The final event of the season, summer dinner, went down on the final day of May after a long day of Sevens at Rugby Rocks 7s. This year, we entered with two teams in two leagues, allowing our experienced Alumni girls to come back to sport the King's shirts and our current players to play as well.

At Richmond Athletic Grounds, the weather was sunny and hot and spirits were high, where national, club as well as university teams played all day. It didn't tamper with the moods either that the Premiership final between Saracens and Northampton was broadcast live on a huge screen in the middle of all the pitches. Awesome!
We played our way through multiple games, more and less successful, but managed to land the final of the Social Sevens against Southampton at 6 o'clock - to the despair of Social Sec Liz O., who couldn't see how we would ever get to dinner at London Bridge before 7.30. After a tough game, we were only one try from claiming the prize, but had to make do with a silver medal.

Later in the evening it was Summer Dinner and what better way to fill the stomachs of 30 hungry ruggers than pizza? During food and chatting, this year's titles were awarded to their respective winners, prompting applause and cheers from all. It was also the time for the outgoing President to address her 2013/2014 committee with gifts and words on the way and in very practical Sara-esque manner, these were presented in the form of self-reflecting books. In the same way, incoming President Helena gave returned the favour.
Finally, our soon-to-be Alumni girls were given badges to serve as reminder that once a King's girl, always a King's girl and we hope to see you at the Alumni games in October.

Awards:
Player of the Year: Elizabeth Crake
Players' Player: Lynn Januszewski
Fresher of the Year: Elizabeth Osborne
Most Improved Player: Rebecca Stark
The Rosie Allison Rugby Girl Abroad Award: Ana Matorras and Claire Marconi

Outgoing Committee:
President: Sara Eskola
Captain: Jennifer Finnamore
Social Secretary: Katie Bambury
Fixtures Secretary: Lynn Januszewski
Treasurer: Helena Winstone

On behalf of the Club, I want to thank you all for your incredible work throughout the year, both on and off the pitch. Nothing would have been the same without you and whether you're continuing next year or graduating, we wish you the best of luck with your future endeavours!

 - Celina Digebjerg, Media Sec.

As the President for 2013 /2014, I am here writing my first (slightly overdue) match report. 

Having talked about playing 7s since this time last year, I finally managed to convince enough of our players to participate in a 7s tournament. Though I have to admit no one seemed quite as excited as I was, and I suspect many were regretting their decision when meeting at Waterloo train station at 8.30 the morning after the last Walkies' of the year, it turned out to be a successful day.

With the majority of the team having never played 7s before, we took part in the Social Tournament at Richmond Rugby Rocks, with the KCL Men's Team also playing (and winning) another league.

Through patchy playing we won one and lost one of our morning games, and towards noon after having watched the Lions play, we won one further game. In the afternoon we had one more game which we unfortunately lost, but this time to a better team, we could however definitely see that our game had developed and we were playing like a 7s squad, not a XVs squad!

7s is a blast, however with University exams looming the timing is always going to be a bit off in terms of preparation, both technical and physical as everyone noticed when on the brink of collapse after 3 minutes! (..though some should be attributed to the pace of play in 7s..)

We look forward to developing the tradition of assembling a 7s squad for a fun day out at the end of the year to mark the beginning of summer!

Best wishes to all our fantastic Alumni for taking part,


Many thanks,


Sara H Eskola, President (and apparently unofficial 7s Captain this time..?)