Women’s Rugby Club take Gold in BUCS 7s Championship

Clubs from across the country made the trip to Clifton Rugby Club to take part in a day of matches, starting with a round-robin group stage before moving on to a knockout semi-final and final.

Exeter, who were crowned European 7s champions in 2009, made easy work of the groups stages, taking a decisive 22:10 win in their opening match against Durham, before 38:5 and 34:0 victories against Manchester and Newcastle respectively secured their place at the top of the tables.

The semi-finals proved a greater challenge however, Gloucester holding to a 12:12 at the full time whistle. However, Exeter held their composure to set up a superb extra time try by Katie Geal seeing them through to the final against Loughborough.

In the final Exeter’s nerve was again tested as an incredibly tense end to end match saw two of their tries disallowed, keeping Loughborough ahead at 14:12 going into the closing minutes. However, a last ditch drive saw Katie Alder over the line in the final play of the match, putting Exeter three points clear at the final whistle. The final score stood at 17:14 to Exeter, sealing their position as 2014 BUCS 7s champions.

AU President Alex Powell competed for the side and was delighted with the result, she said: “The girls were exceptional throughout and the hard work we have put into training this season has really paid off. We went to the tournament confident of a strong finish following our previous performances in BUCS events this year, but knew we had to overcome some very good sides.

“The semi-final and finals both went down to the wire, which was quite nerve wracking for everyone, but we kept our discipline and stayed focused.

“It’s been a brilliant team effort. Every player on the field contributed to the win and a huge thank you has to be said to our coach Jo Yapp who made sure that we were at the top of our game going into the competition.”

Women’s Head Coach, and former England international, Jo Yapp added: “It’s been a good tournament for us and the girls showed brilliant creativity, even when they were behind in the dying minutes of the final.

“Sevens is a unique challenge and incredibly demanding physically, especially when playing so many matches in a short space of time.

“There were some tense moments but the girls rallied round and knew exactly what they had to do.

“The whole team have played exceptionally well and deserve to be very pleased with their performance.”