Nye to line-up for UK Armed Forces against England Students

Exeter Chiefs Women’s scrum-half Lucy Nye will line-up for the UK Armed Forces (UKAF) as they take on the England Students at the Army Rugby Stadium in Aldershot today (KO 18:30).

A Flight Lieutenant for the RAF Police, Nye has been selected for the combined forces team as they prepare for the women’s International Defence Rugby Competition (IDRC), the equivalent of their own world cup being played in England this August and September.

Nye will come up against some familiar faces tomorrow with six players from the University of Exeter and two new players to the Exeter Chiefs squad amid the England Students.

She said: “It’s exciting that we get the opportunity to play some really strong opposition leading into the campaign. It will be interesting coming up against team-mates that I’ve been working hard with in pre-season. There has been a bit of banter flying around between them about who’s going to come out on top, but I’m chuffed for them that they get to represent England Students as they are all very deserving of the call-up.”

The IDRC will kick-off on August 17 when UK take on Tonga at Esher RFC (KO 13:00). Eight teams will be split into two pools representing Australia, Fiji, France, Ireland, Tonga, UK, Zambia and an invitational side, known as the Vodafone Looseheadz.

The UKAF will play Ireland in round two at Basingstoke RFC on August 21 (KO 16:00) and Zambia at Aldershot on August 25 (KO 13:00). The semi-finals will be played on the weekend of August 29/30 and the final on September 3 at Kingsholm (KO 14:00).

Nye added: “It’s always a honour getting to represent the UK Armed Forces and I’m excited for the tournament to kick off. As a non-international player, this is probably the only other tournament of its kind where you get to play so many other nations. It’s great to see the game and support for women’s military rugby growing so fast and hopefully it shows other young girls what opportunities are out there for them too.”

It is free entry for the UKAF v England Students game while tickets for the IDRC games are available here. 

Today's game can also be viewed on YouTube.