Walferdange Rugby Ladies Claim 1st Win of 2025

On Saturday 15 February 2025, Luxembourg's Walferdange Rugby Ladies played their first home match in the Belgian Third Division, "LAD D3 Gold", against Royal RC Visé.

After a narrow defeat two weeks ago against Standard Chaudfontaine RC in Liège (14:15), Walferdange Rugby Ladies aimed to secure their first win of 2025 on home turf. The fifteen players of the host team played the match without substitutions, initially taking a 5:0 lead. Although Walferdange allowed their opponents to equalise, they regained the advantage before the break and led 17:5 at half-time. In the second half, the hosts continued to extend their lead, eventually securing a dominant 38:5 victory. This win earned Walferdange Rugby Ladies five points, boosting their standing in the league.

After the game, the Luxembourg team's captain, Francesca Black (No. 26), highlighted in an interview with Chronicle.lu that the match could have been easier for Walferdange: "We made our life hard by not playing as intelligently as we should have. It could have been a greater score, but we won. We lost the last game and we won this one. That's what we wanted. And hopefully that will give us the momentum to keep winning the rest of the games of this half season."

The team is still in the process of formation, as 30% of the players joined at the start of the year, and they need time to adapt and learn. Therefore, there are currently no thoughts about returning to the second division of the Belgian Championship, where they played last year.

"We're a small team, so at the moment the main goal is to recruit more players, build a stronger base that would make second division easier when you're always playing the same fifteen girls against big teams that have seven replacements. And every weekend it's the same fifteen girls. It's a lot of injuries, a lot of fatigue. So yes, second division would be nice. But for now, the real goal is to grow the team," added captain Francesca Black, who has been with the team for twelve years.

The team consists of both recently joined players and those who have been with the team from the start. One of the most experienced players in the Walferdange team is Corrine Brever (No. 12), who shared: "I’ve been playing for 22 years now. So I started in England and Ireland and at university, and I've been in Walferdange since the team exists. So I helped build the team, actually, and I’m one of the oldest now on the pitch. So yeah, I have a few more seasons in my legs, I suppose."

Meanwhile, Rachael Black (No. 4) is playing her third season with Walferdange and said that, despite the intense physical effort during the games, the mental state of the players plays a more important role: "Mentally, it's very challenging sometimes because it gets really tough physically, mentally as well. You have to regulate your emotions on the pitch. You can't backtalk to the referee, otherwise you get sent off or the others get a penalty. Physically it's really hard too, I think after five minutes you're dead. So that's where the mentality comes in. You need to keep going. I was in a single sport before, and the Walferdange team is very much about team spirit. Honestly, it’s the best decision in my life that I took because everyone supports everyone. If one team plays down, you always got at least five behind your back."

The next match in the LAD D3 Gold division will take place on Saturday 22 February 2025, also at home, against Dondermonde/Curtrycke/Leuven 1.

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(Caption: Rachael Black (No. 4), Francesca Black (No. 26) and Corrine Brever (No. 12); Credit: Ievgenii Karanov, Chronicle.lu)