Girls National Cup Litchfield Sat 8 May + Sun 9 May Results

Under 18 Tournament:

Cup: Winners - London Irish; Runners up - Reading Baa baas (Semi Finalists: Welwyn and Worcester, but no 3rd / 4th play-off game took place).

Plate: Winners - AGT Jaguars; Runners up - Paviors.

Bowl: Winners - West Park Leeds; Runners up - North Dorset.

Under 15 Tournament:

Cup: Winners - Paviors; Runners up - London Irish (Semi Finalists: Welwyn and Berks Baa baas, and Welwyn won in 3rd / 4th play-off game).

Plate: Winners - Worcester; Runners up - Burfield.

Bowl: Winners - Morpeth; Runners up - Hertford.

Girls National Cup Finals Lichfield RFC 10th May

National Under 18 Cup Final:

Worcester 8 Reading 24

National Under 15 Cup Final:

Paviors 3 Welwyn 5

RFUW National Cup results 26th April

National Cup U18 Southern Final Group Reading RFC

Reading qualify and play Worcester in the Final at Litchfield RFC on 10th May

National Cup U15 Southern Final Group Reading RFC:

• North Dorset 0 Welwyn 17
• Thornbury 0 Welwyn 26
• London Irish 5 Welwyn 19

Welwyn qualify and play Paviors in the Final at Litchfield RFC on 10th May

RFUW National Cup results affecting Herts Clubs 5th April

National Cup U18 Southern Final Group Reading RFC Part 1 (Part 2 on 26th April):

Thornbury U18 0 Welwyn U18 22
Reading U18 12 Welwyn U18 0

U18 Southern Winners will be decided on 26th April

National Cup U15 South / South East / East Round London Irish RFC:

London Irish U15 0 Welwyn U15 38
Ellingham U15 12 Welwyn U15 19

London Irish U15 and Welwyn U15 progress to the Southern Final Group Stage on 26th April

Under 18 National Cup Final Result

Worcester U18's 17 Welwyn / Basford U18's 15

Congratulations to Worcester U18's who have now won this Trophy in 5 of the last 6 Seasons.

National Cup Second Round Results

U18 Section Pool 2:

Solent Sirens 3 Wimborne 7

Welwyn /Basford 5 Solent Sirens 0

Wimborne 6 Welwyn / Basford 10

Pool Winners: Welwyn / Basford

The Final of the U18 Section is Worcester v. Welwyn / Basford and is taking place on 13th April at Litchfield RFC.

National Cup First Round Results

U15 Pool 4:

Basford 0 London Irish 12
Welwyn 0 Reading 0
London Irish 31 Welwyn 7
Reading 0 Basford 32
London Irish 33 Reading 0
Basford 5 Welwyn 0

Pool Winners: London Irish U15

U18 Pool 5:

Welwyn / Basford 64 Reading 0

The Second Round of both the U15 and U18 Competitions is taking place on 30th March at venues to be confirmed.

Barbarian traditions thriving in girls rugby.

Simon Shutler reports on Herts Barbarians heroics in the National Cup:

On Sunday 12 girls travelled from all over the East region to play for a Herts. Barbarians team in the Southern finals of the National Cup at Petersfield RFC. Five teams had players represented; Diss, Letchworth, Saracens, Tabard and Wymondham.

In the first game the team played against Cramberleigh from Surrey and in a very close contest two great breaks by Charlotte (Diss) twice put the Barbarians in front, but Cramberleigh pulled back and in a nail biting finish the Barbarians scored what would be the winning try, before Cramberleigh came back from the kick-off to pressurise the try line. The girls threw everything into try line defence to hold out for a win 15-10.

Unfortunately the game probably took too much out of the girls, and with no substitutes a very tired team took to the field after a short break to play Ellingham & Ringwood. With many girls playing out of position a well drilled team, with abundant pace out wide punished every error. The girls fought hard but were outflanked on a number of occasions and finally lost 43-0.

After another short break they played Thornbury. They looked more like the team in the first game again. Probably down to the wine gums provided by Sam's mum! Unfortunately two missed tackles left us trailing 3 tries to 1 at half time. With the girls again playing better it looked like they could get back into the game. But with Sydnie down injured Thornbury went on to score. That was the last Sydnie was able to play in the game and with no substitutes the girls played on with 11 players. Being 1 player short Thornbury were able to exploit the overlap advantage to seal victory and win the Southern place.

For the girls to come together and play as well as they did, without ever training together is testament to their skills. Many had never played games at this level and intensity before and their tackling and work rate was phenomenal.

Disappointing day for Herts in National Cup semis

It proved to be a disappointing day for Hertfordshire's three remaining entrants in the U14 and U17 National Cup.

The U14 combination of Saracens, Letchworth, and Eastern Cos ("Hertfordshire Barbarians") were probably favourites for their tie a week ago, but a rash of injuries and illnesses resulted in their taking a bare 12 players for their round, where they finished third having won their opening game - tiredness amongst a squad that could have no rest being a signficant factor. Complete results will hopefully be available soon.

In the U17 tournament favourities Welwyn and Letchworth both had a mathematical chance of going through right up to the final round of games - but it was not to be, an impressive Wimborne team from Dorset winning through with a 100% record.

Results:
Welwyn 17, Letchworth 0		P	W	A	L	F	A	Pts
Ivel Barb 0, Wimborne 7	Wimborne	3	3	0	0	40	5	6
Letchworth 22, Ivel Barb 0	Welwyn	3	1	1	1	22	7	3
Welwyn 5, Wimborne 7	Letchworth	3	1	0	2	22	43	2
Letchworth 0, Wimborne 26........	Ivel Barb'ns	3	0	1	2	0	29	1

*Welwyn v Ivel Barbarians abandoned owing to injury

National Cup venues announced.

The big day for some of our clubs is only a few weeks off - and at last they know wherethey will be going.

In the U14 cup Hertfordshire Barbarians (Saracens, Letchworth and all points east) team will be at Petersfield in Hampshire.

In the U17 cup Welwyn and Letchworth will be at Camberley in Surrey (home of "Cramberleigh").

The opponents for the U14s will be up against Cranberleigh (from Surrey), Ellingham and Ringwood (Hampshire), and Thornbury (Gloucestershire), while the U17 teams will face Ivel Barbarians (Somerset), and Wimbourne (Dorset).

Both days will be a round-robin tournament with the winners qualifying for the final against the northern champions on 15th April (somewhere in the Midlands normally).

National Cup semi-finals postponed!

The National Cup semi-finals - which are of interest, at one level or another, to most of the clubs in the county - have been postponed owing to the weather and will now take place at a neutral(but yet to be annnouced) venue on 25th March.

This will take precedence over any previously arranged games - so fixtures secretaries across the land will now be tearing their hair out!

National Cup: Herts teams wait on venue announcement

It has been confirmed that the following teams are in the "Southern Finals" in the two age groups:

U14s: "Herts Barbarians" (ie. Letchworth, Saracens and Eastern Cos) , Cranberleigh (Surrey/Hants), Ellingham and Ringwood (Hampshire), and Thornbury (Somerset).

U17s: Letchworth, Welwyn, Ivel Barbarians (Somerset), and Wimbourne (Dorset)

Venues: Now this is the interesting bit. Looking at the spread of teams it would notmally have been expected that these rounds would have taken place in Dorset or Hampshire BUT no venues have been arranged yet as all of the likely grounds are waterlogged. So it is possible that the games might happen in Hertfordshire. Or Somerset...

Herts 1:2 in National Cup qualifier

Hertfordshire's best ever year in the National Cup continued today with local clubs taking both qualifying places in the rearranged South East qualifier held at Letchworth.

A last minute withdrawl from Surrey side Cramberley left four teams in the contest - Letchworth, Welwyn, Saracens/Fullerians and last year's South-East League champions Worthing.

Letchworth and Worthing kicked off early in order to get the fixtures through before nightfall, and their performance gave the other Herts sides some useful pointers on how to play the unknown Sussex team. Letchworth dominated up front, which starved Worthing's fast and talented backline of useful ball for most of the game and in the end the host side were probably far more comfortable winners than the 10-7 scoreline suggests, Worthing's only score coming at the end of the game.

Welwyn played the south coast side next - and, with the help fresh legs, strolled to a 48-0 win. Meanwhile the hosts match faced Saracens/Fullerians and recorded a second victory - and again a more comfortable win than 10-5 might suggest, and despite playing with only 14 in the second half owing to one player falling ill.

With two teams going through Letchworth had now qualified but still had to face Welwyn, who need a win to guarantee their place in the next round. The first half was an exciting, closely matched affair with Welwyn edging it 10-5 before going on to stretch their lead against a tiring home team to 34-5 by the end.

Saracens/Fullerians were Welwyns last opponents. Coming out of a narrow loss to Worthing, Saracens performed superbly under the floodlights holding Welwyn to the narrowest wining margin of the day - 17-0.

So on 4th February three Herts teams will be playing in the southern finals of the National Cup - Herts Barbarians U14s, Welwyn U17s, and Letchworth U17s. Can one of them take the next step to national glory? We shall see...

Results:

Letchworth 10, Worthing 7

Welwyn 48, Worthing 0

Letchworth 10, Saracens/Fullerians 5

Saracens/Fullerians 10, Worthing 19

Letchworth 5, Welwyn 34

Saracens/Fullerians 0, Welwyn 17

South East Qualifier	P	W	L	F	A	Pts
Welwyn	3	3	0	99	5	9
Letchworth	3	2	1	25	46	7
Worthing	3	1	2	26	68	5
Saracens/Fullerians	3	0	3	15	46	3

Photgraphs from some of todays games can be found here

Last minute withdrawl complicates U17 National Cup

The last minute withdrawl of Cramberleigh from has resulted in some changes to tomorrow afternoon's National Cup round at Letchworth. The good news is that we are at least guaranteed at least one Hertfordshire team getting into the semi finals as three of the four sides competing for two places will now be from Herts.

The revised draw for the round has now been published on the Letchworth blog.

U17 National Cup to be replayed at Letchworth

With grounds still unplayable at Saracens at Welwyn, Letchworth will be hosting the rearranged first round of the U17 National Cup on 10th December. With barely 10 days notice it'll be a bit of a challenge, and they will not be saying "no" to any help that might be offered - but on the big "plus" is that at least the event is still in Hertfordshire!

Start times etc. have yet to be confirmed, but almost all of the host's minis and juniors are away so potentially the tournament could start significantly earlier than the 1.30 planned for last weekend. How early will depend on those travelling long distances.

We've already got one Herts team into the semi-finals of the U14s - with three in the running at this event let's hope we can get two through from the U17s!

Mixed fortunes for Herts teams in National Cup

A rain-drenched Welwyn was the venue for the South East qualifer for the first ever U14 National Cup on Sunday, with three teams playing for two places in the next round - Welwyn, "Cramberley" (from Surrey), and "Herts Barbarians" (a scratch side made up of everyone else from Herts outside of Welwyn, plus some girls from Eastern Counties!).

The hope was that the two Hertfordshire teams would make it through, and the opening game between the two "home" teams was incredibly close - Welwyn desparately unlucky to go down by a single try.

Unfortunately Welwyn then had to play again. The disappointment of the first game - and the strength-sapping mud - did not help when up against one of the best U14 sides in the south of England (National 7s winners last year) and they went down 17-0.

The boot was on the other foot, however, for the next game as the "Barbarians" took full advantage of a good rest and sneaked home 10-5 in an really exciting game that ended in the gathering gloom of a winter's evening. So the Barbarians at least take the Herts flag forward when they get to do it all again on 4th February!

"Gloom" and "having to do it all again" were also the emotions felt by the our three U17 entrants as their tournament at Saracens (or "Lake Bramley" as it may now be called) was called off just as everyone was setting off (well, everyone in Hertfordshire. We suspect that other teams due to take part had already been travelling for a while before they heard). Quite what will happen now is anyone's guess as - with county and regional dates already in place - there are not that may opportunities to rearrange the contest before 4th February. Watch this space...