Sunday 24th April saw the culmination of the inaugural season of the inter-County Girls waterfall competition involving clubs from Berkshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire.
Almost 400 girls attended a wonderful sunny afternoon of rugby at Abbey RFC, near Reading.
There were four U13 matches involving girls from Trojans, Havant, Abbey, Bracknell, Didcot, Gosford All Blacks, Reading and Ellingham and Ringwood. All the girls were awarded medals and the winning teams won either the cup, the plate, the bowl or the shield.
As you will see from the gallery of images taken on the day the girls were in fine form and the rugby played with determination and focus.
In the U15s clubs involved were Winchester, Abbey, Bracknell (who played a 3 way final for the development cup and plate), Newbury, Didcot, Gosford All Blacks, Reading, Basingstoke, Havant and Trojans, also welcomed into the day’s festivities were girls from Alton and Henley who joined in with other teams and were welcomed by all.
The standard of rugby on show from all the girls was fantastic, we had girls making their playing debut playing alongside and against girls who have played for a few seasons already which is just how it should be. No-one looked out of place and lots of fun was had by all. The inter county competition is all about getting girls the opportunity to play rugby in as full a team as possible, but our priority is getting them to play and have fun and love the game of rugby, wanting to continue to play for as long as they can, making friends for life with the full values of rugby: Teamwork, Respect. Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship.
Massive thanks has to go to Reading Abbey RFC Ladies who organised the events of the day superbly, even going as far as organising some super sunshine, all the girls who played their hearts out on the day, their dedicated club coaches and managers and of course the parents who support the girls throughout. Thanks too to the group of referees who gave up their time for free to make the day go smoothly for the girls.
We look forward to welcoming more teams (including clustered teams from more than one club) into the competition next season and trust that this will continue to help to grow the women’s and girl’s rugby game in Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Hampshire.
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BIG THANKS TO John Taplin (@RUGBYGrandad) and Paul Clark (SToSPhotography) for capturing some really great shots of the girls on the day. You can follow them both on Instagram to see more of their outstanding work. #bestofberkshire. #rugbyphotography
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