Ivybridge RFC Women’s captain Rachel Miller relished the once in a lifetime opportunity to lead out her team at the home of English rugby as part of the RFU’s Twickenham Takeover.

Her club was one of eight sides selected to play at Twickenham for the Play Together Stay Together campaign. They were chosen by an independent panel for their hard work in establishing player pathways, supporting young stars on their journey through to adult rugby. 

Miller, 31, admitted she and her teammates were initially starstruck at spending time in a stadium where many greats of the game had previously brushed shoulders. 

“We’re really far away from Twickenham so we don’t get to come up here often,” said Short, who is also a club developer for the RFU.

“For the players coming through to have an experience like this is incredible. 

“We were in the home changing rooms so there was a lot of wonder and awe when we were walking around.

“A lot of players won’t have played in front of this many people, and probably won’t ever again. It’s a special day.”

Team manager Caitlin Short, 32, was particularly impressed by the organisation of the event and the opportunities given to the players which made the day just that little more special. 

“It was a really nice touch to get the teams to run out of the tunnel at the start of every match’” she said.

“It could have been really half-hearted but it wasn’t at all. We got the full experience, which was really nice.”

Ivybridge RFC earnt their spot at the Twickenham Takeover for setting up a successful pathway structure which helps their juniors progress up to their senior squads. 

To achieve this, Ivybridge organise club-wide training sessions and give the U18s the chance to take part in the senior team warm-up. 

Additionally in the summer the club hosts an event which sees age-grade teams play a fixture before the senior women feature in the Grace McCaulky Cup. 

“We’re really fortunate that we have age groups from U12s to U18s,” said Miller.

“We have the U18 girls warm up with us every single session and they do the skill drills with us so they can learn our names, we can integrate with them and when they make the jump to the senior squad, it’s not such a big step. 

“We’re looking at starting a development team next year so that, regardless of what level you are, there will be an opportunity to play.”

Play Together Stay Together is an England Rugby campaign to encourage people to get back into rugby. Want to get back to the action? Find your local rugby club using findrugby.com