Bulls make SA rugby history with first women's pro rugby contracts

In a first for South Africa, the Blue Bulls Company has rewarded 35 women with professional contracts.

The players will form part of the Bulls Daisies, the official women's team in Pretoria, and will compete in the Inter-Provincial League which is set to start in March with fixtures expected to be confirmed over the coming weeks.

The full squad and coaching staff will be announced soon.

Thando Manana, Blue Bulls Company Special Projects Manager and High-Performance Women's Rugby Manager, says the dream is for the women's high-performance environment to be modelled on the successful one he saw during his two-week visit to the United Kingdom.

"I am grateful to Saracens, Harlequins and the Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club for opening their doors to me, allowing me to spend time in their high-performance environment, studying the DNA of their setup and learning from their experience in terms of what has worked and what has not, as well as what served the development of women's rugby over there and how we can adapt those key ingredients into what we are trying to achieve as the Bulls Daisies," Manana said.

"Our ambitions are not to merely partake in competition but to establish a solid foundation where South African rugby stars will be produced and I believe the groundwork we have laid over the last few months, is already a step in the right direction. The support from the Blue Bulls Company has been tremendous and the partners in the background share our common goal of creating champions, out of our backyard.

"This is (indeed) an exciting time and I hope that our rugby community will get behind us as we elevate women's rugby to the top."

Bulls Chief Executive Officer Edgar Rathbone said that the move to professionalise women's rugby was a landmark achievement, the success of which will have a ripple effect on the game from the grassroots to the national level.

"This has been a long time coming and almost feels surreal that we have finally summited this mountain top. As a family, we always say that all are welcome and that we have each other's backs and finally, our women in rugby can get behind that message knowing that indeed, someone has their back," Rathbone said.

"I am sure that the professionalisation of the team will also build on their confidence as players because they know that their effort and hard work is being recognised. I hope that this will spur them on and ultimately benefit the national side as South Africa looks to become a global powerhouse on the international stage.

"We cannot wait to see the Daisies run out and look forward to cheering them on."