Ross Ladies were the hosts of Round Five of the Southern Midlands Touch League on Sunday. With a squad now numbering over 25 for a six-fielded player requirement, this meant that the ladies could field two teams.

The A team consisted of the regular tournament players and the B team consisted of a mixture of experienced and new members, who have joined the club over the previous few weeks.

The first game saw Ross A versus Ross B, with Ross A running out the winners. Coach Simon Gwynn was thrilled with the B team’s effort and the speed in which the ‘newbies’ were picking the game up, under the watchful eye of Amy Yates, Claire Clarkson, Nicole Flitton, Beth Morgan, Vic Mince and Alex Harrington. They had produced a team of great balance with the very real possibility of fielding two teams in future tournaments.

Ross A then went on to play Bredon, running out 4-0 winners with Nicola Richardson-Wall scoring a hat trick and Kim Parker backing up with one more try.

Luctonians saw Ross A run out 5-0 winners with Helen Taylor Davies, one, Aidie Batt, one, Kim, one, and Nicola, two, scoring a nice spread of tries for Ross.

Berry Hill saw Ross A run out 7-1 winners with Sarah Bevan, two, Helen, two, and Nicola, three, showing some fantastic skills and great running lines to win a great attacking match.

The final game for Ross A was against the league leaders Pershore, due to their draw with Bredon, Ross A knew that if they avoided defeat they would win their home tournament for the first time ever.

The game was played at high tempo and on the five minute mark Sarah popped a lovely pass to Helen who was running a great line to open the scoring. Trying to remain calm, Pershore piled on the pressure to try and get back into the game and caught the Ross defence still retreating for a penalty to nip through and equalise. After that Ross never looked like conceding and the score ended with a draw 1-1 and Ross had finally won their own tournament after eight years of trying.

Ross A finished the tournament scoring 24 tries and only conceding two, a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining afternoon of running rugby. Two wins in the remaining two tournaments, one in the league at Greyhounds on October 9th, and one in the Super Sunday Tournament on October 30th, would produce a unique ‘double’ and something that Ross will certainly be striving for.

The whole of the Ross squad celebrated together and look forward to fielding two teams at future tournaments.

The developing ‘B’ team will help to bring on the new players that join the club, including the young daughters of some of the players who are showing great potential for the future of the squad.

The A Team consisted of Nicola Richardson-Wall (captain), Helen Taylor-Davies, Sarah Bevan, Mel Germaney, Michelle Kendal-Jeffries, Laura Kendal-Seal, Kim Parker and Aidie Batt.

The player of the tournament was Nicola with her nine try haul.

The B Team consisted of Amy Yates (Captain), Claire Clarkson, Beth Morgan, Nicole Flitton, Alex Harrington, Vic Mince, Mel Lyddon, Kate Seymour and Anna CK.

The player of the tournament was Beth for her first ever try for Ross.