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PWR

Trailfinders announce shock exit of Giselle Mather

EXETER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 07: Giselle Mather, Director of Women's Rugby at Ealing Trailfinders looks on prior to the Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby match between Exeter Chiefs and Trailfinders Women at Sandy Park on January 07, 2024 in Exeter, England. (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

Trailfinders Women have announced that Director of Rugby Giselle Mather has left the club just over a week before the team is due to start their season in the PWR Up Series.

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The decision, said to be mutual, was made due to a ‘difference in philosophy’ ahead of their second top-flight season.

Mather, who as a player won the 1994 World Cup with England, was a runner-up for PWR Coach of the Season for 2023/24 alongside Loughborough Lightning’s Nathan Smith with Gloucester-Hartpury’s Sean Lynn earning the accolade after back-to-back PWR titles.

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Trailfinders finished sixth in their first season in the league, ending their maiden campaign on a high with a 54-27 victory against local rivals Harlequins.

Mather, previously Director of Rugby at Wasps, built the Trailfinders team from scratch, recruiting international stars such as Abby Dow, Kate Zackary, Tyson Beukeboom, and Lindelwa Gwala ahead of their first top-flight season.

After first joining the club in 2022, she blended youth with experience in the set-up, nurturing the development of younger players alongside stars of the game.

Mather said on the club’s website: “I am immensely proud to have built the foundations for future success for Trailfinders Women. Building an elite premiership side from scratch has been an incredible project, and leading it has been an honour.

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“Due to a difference in philosophy for our second season, we have reached a mutual decision to part ways. I would like to acknowledge the huge privilege it has been to work with the amazing and talented athletes and committed staff at the Club. I am proud of the momentum we have built during our inaugural season. I wish all those involved every success going forward.”

Mather’s unexpected departure is the third from a female head coach in the league ahead of the 2024/25 season, following Vicky Macqueen leaving Leicester Tigers and Harlequins’ Amy Turner moving to another role at the men’s side of the club.

A trailblazer in her field, Mather became the first female coach to be employed full-time by a men’s Premiership side when she became London Irish’s Academy Coach and ASSE (Advanced Apprenticeship and Sporting Excellence) Head Coach.

One of the first Red Roses, with cap number 35, Mather has additionally worked as Head Coach of England U20s Women and Assitant Coach of the England women’s senior team.

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The Telegraph report that Mather’s exit was the result of a disagreement with Ealing Trailfinders Managing Director Ben Ward, who said in the club’s statement: “I would like to thank Giselle Mather for how hard she has worked for Trailfinders Women and what she has accomplished. Building a new team is incredibly hard, and she led us forward in our first season in the PWR.

“Our style of rugby represents the Trailfinders way and has been enjoyable to watch. She is written into the history books at Ealing Trailfinders and Trailfinders Women. We wish Giselle the best for the future.”

The PWR Up Series starts on 7 September with Trailfinders due to play Harlequins on the 8th. The PWR league season will start on 5 October, with Trailfinders facing Saracens in the first match.

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1 Comment
B
BC 111 days ago

I too have huge respect for Giselle. I suspect that she wanted to stay true to attacking running rugby but the CEO wanted results and a more pragmatic approach. I can see some players leaving. She should be involved in international rugby preferably with the Red Roses but she deserves a No 1 role.

C
CN 114 days ago

Ealing is not my club, although I am full of admiration for Giselle Mather and what she achieved at the club. She has been a trailblazer for women's rugby for some time and became one of the first qualified female coaches. I am sure she will not be short of offers, maybe a place for her in the Red Roses set up or another international team following the path of Jo Yapp

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JW 6 hours ago
Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

I rated Lowe well enough to be an AB. Remember we were picking the likes of George Bridge above such players so theres no disputing a lot of bad decisions have been made by those last two coaches. Does a team like the ABs need a finicky winger who you have to adapt and change a lot of your style with to get benefit from? No, not really. But he still would have been a basic improvement on players like even Savea at the tail of his career, Bridge, and could even have converted into the answer of replacing Beauden at the back. Instead we persisted with NMS, Naholo, Havili, Reece, all players we would have cared even less about losing and all because Rieko had Lowe's number 11 jersey nailed down.


He was of course only 23 when he decided to leave, it was back in the beggining of the period they had started retaining players (from 2018 onwards I think, they came out saying theyre going to be more aggressive at some point). So he might, all of them, only just missed out.


The main point that Ed made is that situations like Lowe's, Aki's, JGP's, aren't going to happen in future. That's a bit of a "NZ" only problem, because those players need to reach such a high standard to be chosen by the All Blacks, were as a country like Ireland wants them a lot earlier like that. This is basically the 'ready in 3 years' concept Ireland relied on, versus the '5 years and they've left' concept' were that player is now ready to be chosen by the All Blacks (given a contract to play Super, ala SBW, and hopefully Manu).


The 'mercenary' thing that will take longer to expire, and which I was referring to, is the grandparents rule. The new kids coming through now aren't going to have as many gp born overseas, so the amount of players that can leave with a prospect of International rugby offer are going to drop dramatically at some point. All these kiwi fellas playing for a PI, is going to stop sadly.


The new era problem that will replace those old concerns is now French and Japanese clubs (doing the same as NRL teams have done for decades by) picking kids out of school. The problem here is not so much a national identity one, than it is a farm system where 9 in 10 players are left with nothing. A stunted education and no support in a foreign country (well they'll get kicked out of those countries were they don't in Australia).


It's the same sort of situation were NZ would be the big guy, but there weren't many downsides with it. The only one I can think was brought up but a poster on this site, I can't recall who it was, but he seemed to know a lot of kids coming from the Islands weren't really given the capability to fly back home during school xms holidays etc. That is probably something that should be fixed by the union. Otherwise getting someone like Fakatava over here for his last year of school definitely results in NZ being able to pick the cherries off the top but it also allows that player to develop and be able to represent Tonga and under age and possibly even later in his career. Where as a kid being taken from NZ is arguably going to be worse off in every respect other than perhaps money. Not going to develop as a person, not going to develop as a player as much, so I have a lotof sympathy for NZs case that I don't include them in that group but I certainly see where you're coming from and it encourages other countries to think they can do the same while not realising they're making a much worse experience/situation.

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