Women's Rugby celebrated at Inaugural Awards Dinner

Belfast Harlequins was the scenic setting for the inaugural Ulster Women's Awards Dinner on Saturday night. This was an opportunity for all of the Women's Teams to come together and celebrate the season gone by and the tremendous development of the game in the Province. Clubs from all around the Province were represented as well as several key figures from the I.R.F.U Ulster Branch, Domestic Rugby Manager David Boyd, Vice Chairman Robin Cole and Women's Development Officer Joy Sparkes. Three Awards were up for grabs on the nights which were voted for by the Clubs.
Although there were five well deserving players nominated in the U19 Player of the Year category the honours went to Nikki Caughey of Malone RFC. Nikki has had a wonderful season showing a great natural rugby ability and is a player whose has tremendous dedication and enthusiasm for the sport and is definitely one to watch for the future. She captained her Club to their second League Final and also her school to the final of the Girls Schools Cup at Ravenhill.
There were six equally deserving nominees in the Front Union Senior Player of the Year category there was no denying current Ulster and Ireland representative Lauren Day. Lauren is currently in her third season of playing tight head prop for Cooke RFC in AIL Division 1. She also represents Ulster and is currently part of the Irish Squad hoping to secure her position for the up and coming World Cup in August this year.
The Club of the Year was the most hotly contested Award of the night with Enniskillen Ladies coming out the winners. Enniskillen have re emerged after the senior team folded a couple of years ago. They have developed from the foundations up, investing resources into the juniors ranks and are now seeing the benefits of their efforts. They were unfortunate not to make the Final of the Ulster Cup however put up an excellent display. They also competed against some strong AIL 1 teams in the All Ireland Cup making it through the pool stages despite being classed as a development team.
Congratulations must go to all award winners and the nominee's and a special thanks to Natalie Byrant for all of her tireless work in the organisation and preparation of this event, everyone present will agree she did a tremendous job.
Thank you also to the Front Row Union and Fresh Print Design for their sponsorship, to Belfast Harlequins for the use of their facilities and to Michael McAteer for his professional and very entertaining Master of Ceremonies role.
It has been a very long but successful season at both Youth and Adult Level in the Province and many thanks must go to all the volunteers and players who have helped take the game to the next level. Enjoy your summer break and I look forward to the season ahead.

Click here for more pictures from the evening.