THE Malvern Angels rugby squad are starting their new season with a positive drive to recruit more women to play for their local team.

Under the Active Sports program, sessions will be starting at Dyson Perrins School to introduce tag rugby to the young girls there. This will be run by Barry Kirby, the club's head coach, who will be using the session to get the girls interested in rugby and introducing them to Malvern Rugby Club to come and play in this year's successful youth squad.

The senior team has also been working with Malvern Girls College to bring rugby to their 16-18 year old girls with a view to encouraging them to come and play for the senior team.

This scheme is already producing brilliant results with the addition of three new members of the team from the college.

Barry Kirby is thrilled with the results and said: "We have worked closely with the PE staff at Malvern Girls College, headed up by Jane Smallwood, to be able to provide a new sport for the girls, and it certainly seems to be having the results the Malvern Angels need to boost their numbers and put out a full XV team in the up and coming Fixtures."

As a result of these enterprises, a third Angel's team is being developed. This will be a U18 contact team.

Because of the different age boundaries in the women's rugby set up, this will offer girls from the ages of 14 to 18 the stepping stone from tag rugby to contact.

The girls will not have to jump to contact at the age of 14 if they do not want to, its all about providing options and choice.

This new squad will train along side the senior team, which fill for strong bonds between the teams and a clear progression path for players which is something the Angels have not had the numbers to support in the past.