The league has been established thanks to the significant growth of development work in schools around the province and as a result has also led to increased club participation in the women’s game.   This is the first ever U18 contact league in Ulster and the increase in youth teams from 4 last season to 10 this season has meant that the structures could be put in place to get the league up and running.  It is hoped that this increase participation at youth level will help sustain and develop the club adult game in the future.

The teams competing are:

Youth League East
Lisburn
Cooke/Bangor/Carrick (Combined team)
Rainey
Ballyclare
Malone

Youth League West
Armagh
Enniskillen
City Of Derry
Letterkenny
Virginia

This league kicked off last Sunday 28th October and the results so far are:

Week 1
Lisburn v Carrick – postponed to Sunday 14th Nov
Rainey 40 v Ballyclare 7
Enniskillen v Letterkenny – postponed
Armagh 5 v 47 Virginia

Week 2
Ballyclare v Lisburn – postponed till 11th Nov
Malone 3 v Rainey 56
Virginia 38 v Enniskillen 0

Rainey Cheetahs V Ballyclare
 
Rainey Cheetahs opened up their League East account with a six try bonus point win against Ballyclare on a damp Sunday afternoon. The Cheetahs were parading a number of new signings and they certainly impressed with debutant scrum-half Leola McErlane scoring a fine hat-trick of tries.
 
The game started timidly with both packs of forwards trying to get a measure of their opponents, eventually the Rainey pack started to set up good platforms from both set pieces and at the breakdown Danica Johnston and Stephanie Bradley made their presence felt. This allowed the nippy backline to get clean possession and only stout defence kept the scoreline to 19-0 at half time despite wave after wave of attacks coming from Rachel Lennox, Hannah Farley, Zoe Bradley and captain Sinead Waites. Leola McErlane touched down twice and Hannah Morrow scored once following these sustained periods of pressure.

 
The second half started well for the Cheetahs and they continued to pressure the Ballyclare forwards, but a lapse of concentration allowed the Ballyclare scrum-half, Emma Dines, to break clear and score under the posts and Catherine Walker added the conversion.
 
Some stern words from the coaches inspired the Cheetahs and the game continued to be dominated by the Cheetahs with Sara Topping and Hannah Morrow really making their presence felt.  Ballyclare's back row Courtney Bell posed a big threat to the Cheetahs with a great display however further tries followed for Louise McKee, Rachel Lennox  nd a third for Leola McErlane. All of the Cheetahs got a run out. With two or three key players missing, there will be more to come from this young and enthusiastic team, including competition for places. After the game, Captain Sinead Waites said " I am very happy with the teams's performance,  but I know we will face sterners tests in the coming two away games against Malone and Lisburn."
 
The coaching team would like to thank Club Director of Rugby, Ollie McShane for running the line on a very damp day.