Two way communication between member clubs and the SRU Council Representative and the volunteer group who help to manage and influence the game for women and girls is paramount. The Women and Girls forum is a planned a series of events for the coming season to ensure that this can take place. The forum meetings ensure that the clubs are kept well informed and have opportunity to share information, ideas and opinions with their Council Representative The aim of the meetings is to provide relevant and useful information and to gather information from and about the club game.
 
WHO SHOULD COME?
We hope that every club with an interest in developing the game for women and girls will be able to send at least one representative from their club committee. Any club member will be welcome as will representatives from schools, universities and/or clubs who are thinking about introducing women or girls rugby.

HOW DOES THE WRDM ASSIST CLUBS?
In addition to Forum meetings the Womens’ Rugby Development Manager  will be working with the Regional Development team to identify clubs in need of particular support and development throughout the year.
 
The WRDM will focus her time on helping the selected clubs (‘Focus Clubs’) to achieve defined outcomes by the end of the season. Selected clubs will be supported in creating and/or reviewing their club development plan for the next three years. This may include exercises such as:
• identifying volunteer needs
• creating training plans where appropriate
• identifying potential local funding and writing bids
• creating local, practical partnerships to support the development of women/girls rugby
 
HOW CAN MY CLUB BECOME A FOCUS CLUB?
Each year the list will be selected by the WRDM with input from Club Development Officers and Regional Development Managers, against agreed criteria given below and to reflect the strategic priorities of the SRU.

Criteria for identification of Focus Clubs:
• Currently has or is interested (has identified coaches/SVQ’s) in developing U18 rugby
• Strong committee structure
• Well organised & run - good at communicating re: fixtures etc and replying to requests for information
• Club as potential for growth or further development - e.g starting an U15 or U18 teams, increasing senior player base
• Club/Committee is proactive in identifying volunteers within their club
• Club/Committee is proactive in general.
• Club/Committee is proactive in approaching the SRU for help/support/advice
• Men’s/boys and women’s/girls rugby integrated within the club
• Women and girls  development goals fit into the overall club development goals
• University clubs are well supported by their sports union/student union/sports department/university 
 
HELP FOR CLUBS WEBSITE
The sportscotland ‘help for clubs’ website provides Sports Clubs with practical advice about how to manage and develop your activities. It contains guidance on running an effective sports club, simple template documents for many administrative functions, case examples of how other clubs have organised their affairs, suggestions for increasing club income, and links to other useful sources of help (including sports development officers employed by local authorities and sports national governing bodies). To stay fully informed, you can register to receive the periodic Club Update newsletter by email. Check out www.helpforclubs.org.uk. 
 
WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE STRUGGLING FOR PLAYERS
If you think you might be struggling for players for a particular match then there are a number of things that can and should be done to ensure that the match goes ahead and as many people are play rugby each week as possible.
 
Know the rules (See Rules and Regulations in the SRU Rugby Record)
Any team is allowed to borrow players to enable them to fulfill a fixture. Normally, 2 players can be borrowed but, with the agreement of the opposition, this can be increased if necessary and other stipulations on who can be borrowed can be waived, again providing the other team is in agreement (Rule 6.7.9). Agreement of both teams must be received in writing but the moral of the story is don’t give up - there may be another way to get the fixture played even if it looks like a lost cause!
 
Let the other team and the Competitions Coordinator know as soon as possible
You should really let the other team know no later then Thursday evening if there is even a small chance that numbers will be a problem for the upcoming game. It means that both you and they are prepared for what may happen and it gives them a chance to think about letting you borrow more players if needed. Letting the Competitions Coordinator know also helps - she will be able to help you with contacts for teams that could be approached for borrowing of players. Teams in the National Development League will always be a good place to start if there is no NDL day/tournament on the match day. You also need to inform the Competitions Coordinator if both teams have agreed on alternative borrowing rules so letting her know in advance will smooth things over here and allow different options to be discussed. The SRU will always be more supportive of clubs that have fully discussed their problems with us rather than just defaulting fixtures.
 
If all else fails - play a friendly
It may seem like defeat but playing a friendly can really help to develop inexperienced players and ultimately retain them in the game for both your club and the opposition. At the end of the day, this should be the aim for all clubs - much better 20 players playing a 10-a-side friendly than 20 players twiddling their thumbs and getting frustrated with not playing at all!

It will also affect you league position which primarily depends on the number of fixtures played (rule 4.20). In any league, playing the friendly gains you a league point and in the National League, playing the friendly will stop the fixture being counted as a default, so you won’t end up at the bottom of the table.

Between us we can ensure that more players are playing more rugby, more often. A bit of determination and good communication will help maintain and develop the women’s game hugely so please, if you are struggling, get in touch and good luck for all your games this season.