Formed 2004 ... Herts 7s U14 Runners-up 2005 ... North Herts U14 team, Herts Youth Games 2005 runners-up (coached by Letchworth)... Herts Superteams U14 Runners-up 2005 ... Herts SuperTeams "Fairplay" winners 2006 ... Rochford 10s U17 Champions 2006 ... East Midlands 10s U17 Runners-up 2007 ... East Midlands 10s U17 "Fairplay" winners 2007 ... National 10s U17 5th place and "Fairplay" winners 2007 ... Herts 7s U17 Plate runners-up 2007 ... National 7s U17 Plate winners 2007 ... RFU "President's XV" Award winners 2007 ... Herts Superteams winners 2007 ... Midlands 10s U18 Runners-up 2008 ... National 10s U18 4th place 2008 ... North Herts U11 team, Herts Youth Games 2008 runners-up (coached by Letchworth girls) ... London and SE 7s U18 Plate runners-up 2008 ... Herts 7s U18s runners-up 2008 ... National 7s U18s quarter-finalists 2008 ... Gloucester City 10s U18 Bowl runner-up (6th) 2009 ... Worthing 10s U18 Plate runner-up 2009 ... National 7s U18 Plate winners 2009... Worthing 10s U15 Plate winners 2010... Worthing 10s U18 Shield winners 2010... Herts 7s U15 and U18 Bowl runners-up 2010... National 7s U18 Plate runners-up 2010...

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

World Cup: The last qualifier


The tournament to decide final qualifier for the World Cup kicks off tomorrow (at around breakfast our time). The Asian qualification tournament will be a straight knockout, with the semi-finals on Wednesday and the final on Friday.

In practice the eventual winner is unlikely to be a serious contender next September, but it shoudl still be an interesting event. Hosts Singapore kick the tournament off against Japan at 8am our time (4pm local time) and deserve to do well, if only because of their astonishing enthusiasm and detailed preparations - none of the other sides have worked quite as hard as Singapore have, with three warm-up internationals in the past month. This is the first time they have entered the World Cup - Singapore did not even have a women's team in 2006.

Japan, on the other hand, have been playing since the early days of women's rugby - but their preparations have been significantly less impressive and, while they start as favourites, there is a real chance of an upset - especially if Singapore can get an early score.

The second semi final between Kazakhstan and Hong Kong kicks off at 10am. Kazakhstan are clear favourites for both this game, and the competition as a whole (they have never lost to another Asian team) - but they have played only four internationals since 2006 so who knows how prepared they will be?


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