For the first time it has been confirmed that the following teams are in the "Southern Finals" in the two age groups:
U14s: "Herts Barbarians" (ie. us, Saracens and Eastern Cos) opponents will be Cranberleigh (Surrey/Hants), Ellingham and Ringwood (Hampshire), and Thornbury (Somerset).
Finding information about U14 teams is hard work but Cranberleigh we know about, Thornbury reached the National Cup final at U17 level last year, and Ellingham had a habit of winning lots of Plate competitions in 2005/6 but no-one has bothered to update their website for 2006/7.
U17s: Confirmed as Welwyn, Ivel Barbarians (aka "Ivy-bridge"), and Wimbourne
Venues: Now this is the interesting bit. No venues have been arranged yet as many of the likely grounds are still waterlogged. A note has been sent to RFUW saying that Letchworth is okay but we can't expect lightning to strike twice. Still, fingers crossed - maybe the more its rains the less likely we are to need to travel anywhere...
Last year Ellingham and Ringwood u14's won the Hampshire Cup, SE league, Worthing 10's, losing in the semi's to a golden try in the london se 7's and in the semi's of the national 7's. They beat Cranberleigh in both the league and worthing 10's but lost to them in the national 7's by 1 try. The majority of the side play for Hampshire and will be expected to be selected for the South regional side this year
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