Herts Sevens 2011: Draw (and Gloucester 10s results)

Herts Girls 7’s at Hemel Hempstead Camelot on Sun 8 May: Group Stage Draw

U15
Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4
Welwyn Warriors	Berks Ba Baas	London Irish	Worcester A
Litchfield	Old Northamptonians	Ealing	Oakmeadians A
OA Saints	Worcester B	Saracens	Hertford
Bishop Stortford	Royston	Grove	Letchworth
Hemel Hempstead	Faringdon	Oakmeadians B	Guilldford and Camberley
U18
Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4
Worcester	Welwyn Saints	London Irish	Berks Ba Baas
Chesham	Old Northamptonians	Saracens	Litchfield
Welwyn Sinners	Ealing	Thomas Becket	Aylestone St James
Hemel Hempstead	Guildford and Camberley	Herts Ba Baas	Oxfordshire

Gloucester Girls 10’s at Hartpury College on 23-24 April: Results

U15 Cup - Winners: London Irish; Runners up: Worcester.

U15 Plate - Winners: Cardiff Quins; Runners up: Welwyn Warriors.

U15 Bowl - Winners: Exeter Saracens; Runners up: Cleve.

U18 Cup - Winners: London Irish; Runners up: Worcester.

U18 Plate - Winners: Welwyn Saints; Runners up: Ellingham + Ringwood.

U18 Bowl - Winners: Cardiff Quins; Runners up: Exeter Saracens.

Geri in starting XV for England U20

OA Saints' Geri Thomas will be in the starting XV for England Women’s Under 20s when they to take on Wales U20s on Wednesday April 27th at Hartpury College (kick off 2pm). England U20s Head Coach Amanda Bennett has made sevens changes and two positional changes to the starting line-up that beat Scotland last month.

Lichfield’s Harriet Mills will captain the England U20s, with Emily Kingston, Mica Evans, Poppy Cleall, Mills, Rebecca Hughes, Louise Dennis and Geri all coming into the starting line-up. Fiona Fletcher and Abi Scott also swap positions in the second row.

England will be looking for a third win on the bounce after a 12-5 victory over France and a 77-0 win over Scotland earlier this year. The fixture is the last of the England’s U20s home fixtures ahead of their summer tour to America in July in the Nations Cup.

Bennett said: “Although we are delighted with two wins from our first two games, the most important aspect is the quality of performance. 24 of the 26 Under 20s squad members have had the opportunity to start against France or Scotland and we have seen individual progress as well as two very good, if different, team performances.

“The aim against Wales is to continue on that curve – focusing our attention on the essential technical and tactical elements that we’ve prioritised in training. The squad is also beginning to grow and although there is clearly competition for places, the players are clearly gelling and this bodes well for the Nations Cup.

“We have a mixed record against Wales, suffering one defeat last year. Certainly this represents one of our toughest games this season and we expect them to be well drilled, tenacious and unpredictable. Another win would be nice but another strong performance is what we are looking for. This would be the best platform from which we launch our Nations Cup campaign.”

15 Rachel Roberts (Gloucester, South West)
14 Katie Mason (Bristol, Somerset, South West)
13 Amy Wilson-Hardy (Bristol, Sussex, South West)
12 Louise Dennis (Worcester, North Midlands, Midlands)
11 Rebecca Hughes (Bristol, Somerset, South West)
10 Emily Scott (Thurrock, Essex, London & South East)
9 Charlotte Keane (Worcester, South West)
1 Emily Kingston (Gloucester, Gloucestershire, South West)
2 Geri Thomas (Old Albanian Saints, Hertfordshire, London & SE)
3 Mica Evans(Exeter Saracens, Devon,South West)
4 Fiona Fletcher (Lichfield, Staffordshire, Midlands)
5 Abbie Scott (Keswick, Cumbria,North)
6 PoppyCleall (Bristol, Hampshire,South West)
7 Megan Oaten(Bristol, Gloucestershire, South West)
8 Harriet Mills (C) (Lichfield, Staffordshire, Midlands)

Replacements:
16 Charlie Notman (Newquay Hornets (Queen Bees), Cornwall, South West)
17 Daniker Willmore (Bristol, South West)
18 Alexandra Matthews (London Irish, Surrey, London & South East)
19 Hannah Gallagher (Saracens, Hertfordshire, London & South East)
20 N/A
21 Leanne Riley (Worcester, North Midlands, Midlands)
22 Georgia Peedle (Worcester, Hertfordshire, London & South East)

RFUW announce open trials for England Sevens squad

Fancy playing in the next Sevens World Cup - or maybe the Olympic Games? Well, now is your chance - but you had better be quick!

RFUW are organising open trials for a new national sevens squad, which will take place at Surrey Sports Park on 15th May. Any adult players (ie. aged 18 or over on the day) can attend - no previous membership of any regional, divisional or national squads or development groups is required - but you have to complete and return this form https://www.jotform.com/form/10660735368 by 7th May.

England are a year behind many countries in their preparations for the 2013 Sevens World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. Countries from around the world started to concentrate their efforts on Sevens after last year's XVs World Cup. During the last Six Nations France selected players for their Sevens squad ahead of their XVs team, Netherlands recently announced that they will have a semi-professional squad from the end of this season, and Australia have said that they will be putting most of their efforts into Sevens over the next few years.

“This is a new and a very exciting initiative from the RFUW,” said Nicola Ponsford, the RFUW’s Head of Performance. “We think there are lots of players outside of our current system with huge amounts of talent who we’ve never seen before. Some of these players may only just have started playing at University or College for example but have the potential to become fantastic players. We really want anyone who has a good level of fitness to come along and show us what they can do. This really is a chance to unearth new talent.”

Honours even at U15 Divisional Festival

The aim of the U15 Divisional Festival at Hartpury was not to find a winning Division, but to identify the best players in the country and allow them to play against each other. As a result all players in the squads were given an opportunity to play at least one game, if not more.

However, despite that, over the season as a whole London & SE finished with a reasonable claim to be one of, if not the, leading divisions. No side finished unbeaten over the weekend - L&SE lost their opening game to South West by 19-7, but in the second round South West lost to Midlands, who L&SE beat 17-0 in round three. With a 14-0 round two win over North 14-0, L&SE finished with the same record win-loss record as South West.

Details of individual performances and TDG selections have yet to be published, but the crucial win over Midlands was based around two tries from Hertfordshire's Sydney Gregson.

OA Saints retain their place at the top

Old Albanians RFC fought off Bath Ladies in the RFUW Premiership play-off match on Sunday to retain their place in the top flight for next season.

West Country side Bath were hoping to take the next step up the league ladder after winning the North versus South Championship 1 clash a week ago but they were unable to topple Old Albanians yesterday who triumphed 22-7.

Ange Wadham, Nadia Dickinson, Nicky Cameron and Elisha Dee all ran in for tries while Sarah McKenna added a conversion to take the victory. Emily Sherwood touched down for Bath’s only try with Aimee Young adding a conversion.

Old Albanians will now play the likes of Premiership winners Richmond, Wasps, Saracens and Worcester next season.

L&SE U18s sweep to Divisional title

Photo: Elaine Peedle

L&SE completed a successful divisional programme with a 12-0 win over Midland Division to remain as the only undefeated division at U18, with Hertfordshire players to the fore. Sam Voyle - playing in an unaccustomed role at number eight - had a fantastic game and was picked by Gary Street as the L&SE player of the match.  Alice Nee came on as an early substitute in the front row, which saw L&SE very dominant at the set plays.

Although they had first phase domination L&SE, could not break down the Midlands defence and the Midlands repeatedly were able to turn over possession and counter attack dangerously. At half time the score was still nil-nil.

The introduction of Claire Shutler in an unaccustomed role at fly half and Shira Kilgallon at centre gave the L&SE back line more impetus in the second half, and Claire was able to run through the Midland defence to score from 10m out and convert her own try to ease the L&SE nerves. The backs then began to play with more confidence and the domination of the forwards gave them good ball to continue attacking and get a second try.

In the other match the North defeated the South West 15-12 in a very close encounter.

The final table was:

P W D L F A Pts London & South East 3 2 1 0 59 15 5 North 3 2 0 1 37 49 4 South West 3 1 1 1 58 39 3 Midlands 3 0 0 3 24 65 0

Herts Girls aiming at Divisional glory

The county's leading U15 and U18 girls will be looking to repeat the achievement of the senior players and win divisional titles at Hartpury College this weekend.

The U18s are already flying high at the top of their table. Although London & SE drew with their main rivals - South West - in the opening game, their 32-0 win against North was far better than South West could achieve against Midlands, and now it is only the Midlands - who have lost both of their games so far - that stand between L&SE and the title. Hertfordshire girls in the squad for the game, on Sunday, are Sam Voyle (Welwyn), Claire Shutler (Saracens), Alice Nee (Saracens), and Shira Kilgallon (Welwyn)

The U15s will be playing their entire championship at the Festival, which will resemble the old Regional Festival with each team playing three 20 minute games. However, L&SE will be going into the competition with confidence having beaten South West 27-10 in a warm-up game last month - Hertfordshire representatives will be Harriet Austin (Hertford), Bryony Pomfret (Welwyn), and Sydney Gregson (Letchworth).

After this festival there will be 30 U18s and 30 U15s chosen to attend a training camp and a National Talent Development Programme.

The U18s will become part of the National Talent Development Group, attending a four day summer camp at Wellington College that will include skill development, team building, welfare and time management education. They will also receive five extra one to one sessions and a player specific development plan with their Divisional Talent Development Officer – in London & South East’s case Maggie Alphonsi.

The U15s players will attend a three day training camp at Wellington College in August with a focus on skill development as well as nutrition and strength and conditioning education plus expectations about elite athlete behaviour.

Herts players contribute to a London & SE double

Players from the county were at the heart of a unique London & SE Divisional double over North Division at Luton RFC on Sunday.

A strong L&SE team containing five Hertfordshire girls - Alice Nee (Saracens), Sam Voyle (Welwyn), Claire Shutler (Saracens), Shira Kilgallon (Welwyn), Georgia Peedle (Welwyn) - were picked for their match. The L&SE team looked really up for the match from the kick off running the ball back strongly at the North, with Sam Voyle heavily involved. And it wasn’t long before the pressure saw the North defence sucked in and L&SE being able to spin the ball wide to score.

The L&SE tactics were to use the large mobile back row to take the ball up before spinning the ball down the backs. They were playing some good rugby moving the ball from touchline to touchline and having dominance in the scrums. Applying the pressure and dominating possession it wasn’t long before the L&SE again scored this time through the forwards and their captain. The North continued to tackle hard and started to test the L&SE defence with some good runs, but strong competition at the breakdown and good cover defence stopped any breakthrough. An interception by Claire Shutler in her own 22m saw her caught deep in the North half and although she didn’t score from that move excellent forward pressure saw her dive over from close range for a 15-0 half time lead.

The second half continued much the same as the first although both teams used their benches. L&SE were still dominating territory and possession and Shira was getting better ball in the second half to help herself to two tries and then Nina topped off the performance with a great solo try under the posts for a 32-0 full time score.

This impressive performance was more than matched by the senior Divisional With six Hertfordshire players in their squad - Hannah Casey (Tabard), Kat Brinsley (Old Albanians), Sasha Acheson (Saracens), Sonia Green (Saracens), Hannah Gallagher (Saracens), Simone Shepard (Old Albanians) - the Division completed their own "Grand Slam", beating North by 33-13 to complete a 100% record and lift the first ever women's divisional title.

The final table for the senior divisional championship looked like this:

P W D L F A Pts London & South East 3 3 0 0 67 30 6 North 3 1 0 2 66 75 2 Midlands 3 1 0 2 46 57 2 South West 3 1 0 2 46 63 2

The U18s are also unbeaten and will be favourites to lift their title at the Divisional Festival next month.

London & SE U15s win opening game

News has come through that London & South East U15s beat the South West at Newbury today by 27 points to 10, so the  new Division remains unbeaten at all age bands.

A match report (from the South West point if view) has now been published by the RFU (see here), but nothing has been published so far by the London & SE camp.

Herts player a hat-trick hero as England U20s destroy Scotland

Saracens and Hertfordshire's Hannah Gallagher came off the bench for England U20s to take Scotland apart in the first ever international between the two sides. Hannah scored a hat-trick as England romped home to a 77-0 triumph at Gosforth on Saturday evening.

Hannah came on mid-way through the first half, with England already 12-0 ahead. She was soon on the scoreboard for her first two tries touching down on 28 and 32 minutes respectively, before scrum half Keane rounded off the first half proceedings for England. With Scott adding two further conversions England led 43-0 going into the break.

The one way traffic continued after the restart with Gallagher again taking the spoils, this time after some good continuity work by the forwards. After Hertfordshire's Geri Thomas joined Hannah on the field after 51 minutes four more tries soon followed from other members of the England team to give the home side a resounding win.

The U20s now go on to play Wales next month, before preparing to defend the Nations Cup in the USA during the summer.