Girls from Kings of Wessex years nine and 10 won the national final at Twickenham in front of a capacity crowd.

GIRLS from Kings of Wessex years nine and 10, having already won the county and South West competitions, were invited to play in the national finals at Staines against the best 12 school rugby teams in the country.

The first game was against QE Academy from Crediton saw Ruby Wilkinson run in two tries as well as an excellent solo try from Charlotte Wright-Hayley, to record a 15-0 victory.

Tries from Alicia Pollard, Beth Woodcock, Wright-Hayley, Hattie Stephens and Beth Walker resulted in a resounding 25-0 victory over Ashfield from Kent.

After a short break, the girls faced the challenge of Nunney Wood from Worcester. The game was in the balance until the final minutes when Wright-Hayley squeezed over to score a try and with the whistle about to blow for full-time, Stephens scored her second try of the day to seal a 10-0 win.

Next up was the previously unbeaten Preistland from Lymington. Some excellent defence from Chantelle Hartnup and Ellie Darby defied the Preistland girls and Wright-Hayley scored the vital try to record a 5-0 win.

The last game in the pool was against Presdale School from Hertfordshire and the Cheddar girls ran out comfortable 25-0 winners with tries from Wright-Hayley, Stephens, Darby, and Godwin.

After this and having finished the pool rounds, the girls were transported to Twickenham to play in the final in front of a sell-out crowd before the Army and Navy game.

Their opposition was the Sirius Academy from Hull, also unbeaten in their pool games. From the start of the game the Kings girls were playing excellent brand of fast flowing rugby cheered on by the large Twickenham crowd.

A quickly-taken penalty from Burgess and a long pass from Godwin allowed Wright-Hayley to squeeze over in the corner for the only score of the game and were crowned the best girls’ team in the country.

Every member of the squad played an important part in this remarkable achievement, having only taken up playing rugby in the last two years, they can all be pleased with what they have achieved in a short space of time.