England's triumphant summer means women’s rugby union has never been more popular and Chester Devas hope to capitalise on that surge in interest.

England beat Canada in August to win the World Cup for the first time since 1994 and this month the RFU launched a campaign to get 10,000 more women into the contact game.

Formed in 2011, the Devas are part of Chester RUFC and captain Lauren Sargeant said anyone inspired to take up the sport would be welcome to join the team.

“With us being quite a new team, a lot of people don’t know about us or realise there is a women’s rugby team in Chester and the opportunity is here for them to come and try the sport,” said Lauren, who lives in Connah’s Quay.

“The World Cup was fantastic and the team all got together at the club to watch the semi-final and the final.

“Women’s rugby gets a lot better coverage now and the standard has really improved too.

“I think the RFU have done a really good job of building things up and the club game is getting stronger all the time.”

Lauren inherited her passion for rugby from her dad and the 27-year-old started playing the contact game as a student at the University of Chester.

She then joined the Devas, who are competing in the RFUW National Challenge North West division this season.

“We are definitely keen to recruit more players and experience doesn’t matter because we’ve got a qualified coach,” said Lauren, who lines up at inside centre.

“This will be our third season in a competitive league and the leagues have been restructured so there will be east and west conferences.

“A lot of the girls are local to Chester but we have some from further afield too like Liverpool, Newton-le-Willows and me in North Wales.

“We’ve got a good mix of ages in the squad and train twice a week with matches normally on a Sunday.”

Chester started the season with a 29-15 reverse at home to Sefton Ladies before going down to a narrow 17-12 defeat at Southport Ladies at the weekend.

Anyone interested in finding out more about the team or getting involved in women’s rugby can get in touch on Twitter @ChesterDevas or go to www.chester-rufc.com .