Darlington Mowden Park Sharks’ front row Heather Kerr has had a busy week, with BUCS semi final success and a Barbarians call up all in the space of a couple of days. We caught up with Heather ahead of an exciting couple of months:

Congratulations on your recent BUCS semi final win with Durham - how pleased were you to reach the final at Twickenham?

“Unbelievably pleased, it’s a momentous occasion for us as a club and for this team. We have only ever reached the semi final a couple of times and been beaten each time by the eventual winners of the cup. It clearly means a lot to the girls as they have worked tirelessly over the last few months to make sure that we back up a league win with our performances in the second half of the season.”

Sharks fans will have noticed a lot of familiar names in the Durham team, how well has the partnership between club and university worked this season?

“I think the partnership is really important for girls that are trying to develop themselves as rugby players - exposure to top flight rugby can accelerate your learning curve immensely, you get to work with great players and spend that extra time developing your skills. I think this year it’s been a bit tough as a lot of our Durham girls are finalists and as you'd expect the work load is pretty high so only a couple of us have played more than a handful of games.”

You’ll take on Exeter in the final, what sort of challenge are you expecting from that game?

“I think Exeter are a pretty similar team to ourselves, we know they have a fantastic coaching set up and are well drilled rugby players. Quite a few of them have international honours so we know they will be a big challenge. We've played a couple of southern premier teams in the lead up to final game, and our score lines have been pretty much identical to Exeter's against them (Hartpury and Bristol) so it's likely to be a tight game!”

It was also announced recently that you’d been selected to tour with the Barbarians. What will it mean to pull on that famous black and white jersey?

“It’s pretty unbelievable that I've been asked to join the Babas team, I'm not sure it’s quite hit me yet, but the significance of this being the 1st international fixture for the women is huge. I'm really looking forward to flying out and meeting up with the squad. Your first experience for any team is pretty special, whether that's DUWRFC, Sharks or the England, I think this will be no different.”

What are you expecting from the tour? Have you played in the US before?

“I have played in the US once, a summer tour for England back in 2016. My lasting memory was that it was HOT! I'm really looking forward to travelling across the pond again, rugby is really building in the US I think and hopefully we will get a good crowd for the game.”

On behalf of everyone at the club we'd like to wish Heather and her Durham teammates all the best for their BUCS Final!