I’M ON FIRE – Trailfinders 25-26 Preview                            

Could Trailfinders be the PWR team to satisfy your post-World Cup desire? As head coach Barney Maddison, and new signing Rachel Malcolm (below, right) explain to Helen M Jerome, they are ambitious, exciting, and their new acquisitions and attacking combinations mean they are on fire!

Trailfinders mean business. Like a freight train running through the PWR, they are undeniably ambitious. They have made huge statement signings and it would almost be quicker to name the players they haven’t grabbed, to line up alongside their existing galaxy of stars like the extraordinary Canadian, Julia Schell and Ireland’s Grace Moore (above left).

From Leicester Tigers they’ve pulled off a major coup in getting Red Roses and Scotland powerhouses, Meg Jones, Fran McGhie and Claire Gallagher.

From Saracens comes Canadian international prop Maya Montiel, giving extra power in the scrum, with fellow Canadian Mikiela Nelson joining from Exeter Chiefs.  

Everyone loves watching New Zealand do their thing, and Trailfinders fans will be able to see new faces in Black Ferns Alana Borland and Georgia Ponsonby bring their flair, solidity and experience to the party.

Another one to watch is Aussie Haidee Head who joins from Queensland Reds Women and can play across multiple positions.

I chatted first with head coach Barney Maddison, who looked understandably very happy.

Barney, what are your ambitions for this season? Are there any major changes or tweaks to your tactics?

No, not necessarily. Obviously, we play a brand of rugby we’d like to throw the ball around. That’s not going to change.

There’s obviously elements of our defence we needed to tweak based off the past two seasons.

So yes, we’ve put a little bit more of a focus on that, probably more so in pre-season.

But again, nothing’s changed as such.

Let’s talk about some of your exciting signings. First of all, it was a huge coup to get Meg Jones and Fran McGhie (above), and how did you persuade them?

They came down and a big persuasion tactic we look to use here, is we get them down to the ground, we get them to have a look around – and the facilities here at the minute are fantastic. Again it’s where we see women’s rugby is going in that professional setup. So that helps.

From a coaching point of view myself, and [assistant coaches] Stephen Shingler, Kim Oliver, all of us spoke with them and that’s how we move forward from there.

What do your other big new signings – Black Ferns, Alana and Georgia, and the Canadians, Maya and Mikiela – bring to the team?

They bring a lot. Obviously the Canadians are where they are in the world game at the minute, and I think we’re going to be kicking on as such.

We’ve got a pretty strong Canadian connection here. So they spoke with a few of the girls who have been here previously and are still here as well.

The Black Ferns are two fantastic players. And with where the game is over in New Zealand at the minute, they’re just desperate to play rugby. And we gave them that opportunity.

Scotland captain Rachel Malcolm has signed after many years with Loughborough Lightning and is known for her strong leadership and work rate. And she looks pretty pleased about her move.

Rachel, nice to see you. You look very relaxed there.

Yeah, just chilling, not started the training day yet, so a little bit of a rest beforehand.

It’s a huge move for you, so what made you decide to join Trailfinders after captaining Loughborough?

For me, at this point in my career, it was a case of trying to find an environment which I felt like I could, one: add value to, but two: align with my values as a player. And also three: probably gave me that energy to keep going at the latter stages of my career.

I think what I saw at Trailfinders was a real family environment and a club which valued.

They’ve got a really good social aspect of the pitch, which is important to me.

But also they play a really exciting brand of rugby and a really attacking style of rugby, and that’s an area of my game I want to work on.

So it was an obvious choice for me to join this club, because in terms of where I want to take my rugby, I think they can keep pushing me on.

It’s definitely added a little bit of energy.

I’ve absolutely loved coming into the group. Like I say, the values of the players, the coaches and all the staff involved definitely align with mine.

Who are you looking forward to playing alongside at Trailfinders? Obviously, Fran [McGhie], who you know well, but have you ever been on the same side or against Julia Schell before?

Yeah, I obviously know the Scots who have signed here and we tend to travel in packs.

As Scots, we like to play with our own. So I obviously know a fair bit about those girls.

The likes of Fran, Lisa Thomson and Emma Wassell are probably three of the strongest Scottish players and three of the players I like playing with the most, so I’m definitely excited to play alongside them.

Julia Schell is obviously someone I know well, but haven’t necessarily played alongside. I’ve played against her, and definitely looking forward to having her on my side.

We play a very attacking brand of rugby and to play alongside the likes of Jules, Claire Gallagher, Meg Jones, all these players who I think will really set our attack on fire and give me the opportunity to drive my attacking game forward as well is something I’m excited about.

I’ve always been a traditionally defence-focused player, so I hope I can drive that side of the game while they pull me on in the attack side of it.

But from 1 to 15, 1 to 23 and beyond that, it’s just full of players who I’m definitely excited to play alongside.them that opportunity.

Loads of fans got caught up in the excitement of the Rugby World Cup. So why particularly should they come down to watch Trailfinders?

Trailfinders is a really unique place which embodies some of the traditional aspects of what makes rugby so special in terms of that family vibe, that real rugby club mentality.

But we also have that professional element to everything that we do on and off the pitch.

You get the best of both worlds here. Like Barney said, we want to play a really exciting brand of rugby.

For people who have only just got interested in rugby, this is going to be a really exciting team to come and watch.

And we’re obviously looking to go and challenge all the teams in this league.

So every week you come down, you’ll always see a competitive fixture and hopefully a team coming out on top!

Trailfinders host Exeter Chiefs on 25th October at 3pm. Come and watch in person at Trailfinders Sports Club, or watch live on YouTube