New Women's grade starting up for Total Touch

With the opportunities and success of women’s rugby going from strength to strength to World Cups, the development of our female players is becoming increasingly important. Now that the winter rugby season is officially over, sevens and touch rugby become popular.

Touch rugby is a great adaptation of the code where players maintain and enhance the skills they have been fine-tuning this season to make 2018 even more successful for Sevens and Rugby competitions.

Touch is a fantastic avenue for players to engage in an offseason activity that will increase:

• their ability to identify space and hit gaps
• their agility and hone their ability to draw and pass
• team dynamics
• fitness heading in to 2018

The beauty of the game is that players are given a break from the contact aspect of rugby but still playing with an oval ball.

Male representative players like Nehe Milner-Skudder, Julian and Ardie Savea, as well as TTT, come from Touch backgrounds and their extra skills show on the rugby field.

This year Total Touch are offering a Women's Grade on Thursdays up at Wakefield Park with the intention of offering a socially competitive competition to cater for all levels of ladies wanting to play Touch and further their skills for rugby or even look to play a representative level for Wellington Touch at regional and national events.

The season starts 19 October with registrations closing 10th of October. There are 14 weeks of the season, finishing early February 2018.

Be a part of the Touch revolution and register your team today at www.totaltouch.org.nz

Touch Rules at a glance:

• 6 on the field
• 6 touches before it is a hand over
• When touched you dump the ball between your legs on the ground for the ‘Dummy Half’ to pick up
• Dummy Half cannot score and if they are touched it is a turnover
• If you are touched and pass the ball it is a turn over
• If the ball hits the ground it is a turn over
• Defensively- once you make a touch you must retreat 5 metres or to the tryline.