Giant world cup mural aims to encourage more girls into rugby

Rugby player, 9, stars in new world cup mural

22 minutes ago Share Save Joe Skirkowski BBC News, Bristol Share Save

BBC Nine-year-old Ava-Mai says being in the mural with Sarah Bern is "really cool"

A giant mural has been unveiled to mark the 50-day countdown until the Women's Rugby World Cup begins. Bristol is one of the tournament's host cities and the mural, which depicts England and Bristol Bears prop Sarah Bern and nine-year-old rugby player Ava-Mai, has been given pride of place at the Harbourside Amphitheatre. Ava-Mai and her family attended the artwork's unveiling on Wednesday - which is part of a Rugby Football Union campaign to encourage more girls to try the sport. "It feels very cool for me to be next to her [Bern] on that picture - it makes me feel very famous," said Ava-Mai.

"If I try very hard maybe I can be a professional player just like Sarah Bern," she added. Mother Corey said Ava-Mai "absolutely loves rugby and her confidence has skyrocketed". "She's made so many friends through it - I think this is just going to be so good for her," Corey said.

Women's Rugby has seen a jump in popularity over recent years but some teams still struggle to encourage younger girls to play. Alex Teasdale, executive director of the Women's Game at England Rugby, said: "We bid to host the world cup because we wanted to grow women's and girl's rugby in local communities. "You look at the hundreds of thousands of people that are going to walk through here over the world cup and it just puts women's and girl's rugby on the map and hopefully it really inspires people to take part or go and watch the matches in Bristol. "It's just really important that we're putting rugby where people can see it." Bristol's Ashton Gate stadium is one of eight host cities across the country and will show three rounds of games - including quarter and semi-final fixtures.

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