By Art de Roche
Valkyries return to Tyrrells Premier 15s action on Saturday when they welcome Firwood Waterloo Ladies to Sixways (kick-off 2.00pm).
Last season, after showing great determination, Valkyries secured a 12-12 draw away at Waterloo, their best result in the competition to date.
“We’ll definitely use that draw as motivation,” said centre Megan Varley who will captain Valkyries in the absence of Lark Davies who is on duty with England at Twickenham.
“It’s one of those games that we know we can win, we’ve just got to go out and prove what we can do.
“It’s a great opportunity to show how far we’ve come as a squad since we last played them.”
Valkyries’ last game came on November 3 against Loughborough Lightning which has given them the chance to work on things in training and to give some players valuable game time in the Development XV.
“It’s given us more time to walk and talk through more the finer details in training,” Varley said.
“We’ve been able to relax and calm down and we’re looking to take out our frustrations during the game on the weekend.”
In the game against Lightning, Valkyries ran in two free-flowing tries past the league leaders. Playing at outside centre, Varley was involved in both scores.
“It feels great when we’re attacking like that,” she said. “The fact that we were creating good chances, keeping hold of the ball and were dominant for patches of the game was encouraging.
“When we put our minds to it, we’re able to make ground and score good tries.
“We just have to keep that confidence throughout the games and with that, the more technical aspects of the game will come.”