Rugby Coach Weekly Designing the Future: Inside England Rugby’s Girls’ Pathway
In this Rugby Coach Weekly episode, Dan Cottrell sits down with Benny Williams, one of the leading voices shaping the girls’ and women’s game in England. As the Girls’ PDG Coach Lead for England Rugby, Benny oversees the national U18s curriculum, supports coach development, and helps identify the next generation of Red Roses.
Benny takes us inside the newly designed U16 and U18 curriculums, explaining how the RFU built a consistent, adaptable, and player-centred framework across the nine development centres. She unpacks key principles like playing to best space, ball and body always moving, and back in the game, and shares how coaches can help players develop adaptable, high-skill profiles that prepare them for future environments, from PWR to BUCS and beyond.
We explore:
• Why the RFU restructured the pathway and built a fresh curriculum
• What “highly skilled and adaptable” really means in practice
• How to use walking-through, scenario design, and manipulation to teach game understanding
• The role of IDPs and the GROW model in creating truly personalised development
• How clubs can use this framework to help more girls stay in the game and thrive
Find out more about the programmes here:
Foundational Athletic Development
To find out more about this podcast and many others, go to Rugby Coach Weekly
To find out more about our Partner Club offer
CLICK HERE
Also, tap into the library of 4,000 pages of activities, advice, tactics and tips to help you become the best rugby coach you can be!