Ones to watch: Exeter College Women’s Rugby Academy trio

Exeter Chiefs recently welcomed the assistance of a group of media students from Exeter College to produce a video on three up-and-coming players from their Rugby Academy.

We caught up with Honey Kerslake, Izzy Firth and Beth Hall at the Centre for Rugby at Flowerpots to see what life is like as a college student trying to juggle studies with rugby.

Back-row Kerslake will feature in a contested training session for England U21s against Canada U21s this week, when she is actually young enough to feature for England U18s. She began playing rugby at Ilfracombe when she was 10 before moving to Crediton RFC to join their U15s team.

Full-back Firth began playing rugby at Ivybridge Community College before crossing the road to play for Ivybridge RFC.

Scrum-half Hall, who started playing for Plymstock Oaks RFC before moving to Devonport Services at 12 years old, is in her first year at college.

Both Firth and Hall have recently featured for England U18s

All three decided to chase their rugby dreams by trialing for Exeter College’s Rugby Academy.

Firth said: “I think at the end of secondary school I knew I wanted to play rugby and I just think I want to play more frequently and that was offered here.”

With Kerslake and Firth living further afield, both opted to board in The Clock Tower.

Kerslake said: “It’s boarding accommodation for the rugby players in the programme. There’s limited amount of space, so it’s quite a small house. It’s nice.

“You create good bonds with everyone in there and it gives you the opportunity to, if you live far away, to be part of a programme like this.”

Hall added: “The staff are really welcoming and all the students there make it really easy…it’s like a little family in there.”

Meanwhile, Firth is up at the crack of dawn to catch an early train from Ivybridge to make sure she gets to the gym for 8am three times a week before rugby training sessions, plus games and studying...of course

The early wake-ups have been worth it though.

Hall added: “I came in from quite a small secondary school, but being able to do just rugby so often, you get to improve a lot faster than you realise you do. The level of coaching steps up massively from club. The insights you get from people and just playing with a higher standard of players is more rewarding for you as an individual within the team.”

Second years Firth and Kerslake will move on at the end of this academic year with the memory of last year’s winning RFU ACE Girls League final against Hartpury College at Twickenham imprinted on their memories.

Firth, who also won the Rosslyn Park Sevens with the college last year and was Player of the Tournament, said: “I think it was just a really exciting day and really good to look back on.”

Kerslake said: “It was so overwhelming, like all the emotions after the game, especially playing in such a big stadium. It's something that I've never done before. It was such a good experience as well to come away with a win. It just made it really positive, especially with the group of girls we had last year.”

Exeter College runs two women’s teams with the ACE team finishing third this year after winning a play-off against Loughborough College earlier this month. The Premier team is used to develop players in readiness for ACE action.

Play has been suspended for now though as the college year with AS-levels, A-levels and BTEC courses all reaching their conclusion. Once exam season is over, keep your eyes peeled for these three players.

Thank you to the students involved in making this video.