Congrats to OA Saints

A word of congratulations (if a week or two late, as I only just found out) to the OA Saints team who have been promoted to the RFUW's Premiership - the highest league for women's teams - which means that they will join teams like Saracens, Richmond, Northumbria etc. at the top of the women's club rugby pyramid.

Their elevation is all the more remarkable because no-one was suppose to be promoted or relegated this season,  due to the World Cup taking away so many players from the top clubs. However, after they had won the Southern Championship and then the North/South play-off, one of the existing Premiership teams pulled out of next season's league, and so OAs were invited to take their place.

There are only about a dozen teams in the Premiership, so to have two from Hertfordshire (or - to be pedantic - just over the border in Saracen's case) is pretty amazing. The games between Saracens and OAs also promise to be lively affairs next season, bringing together and reuniting some significant personal rivalries from junior rugby days.