OLD Halesonians' under-15 girls side are celebrating a fine season that saw them reach the semi-final of the National Cup.

Their journey started by winning all their games in the opening league section of the National Cup and getting through to the knock-out section.

They won through this to the Area 5 final at Chester RFC against Burton RFC where they were successful in a hard fought game.

This got them through to the last six teams in the whole country and a three-way semi-final held at Derby RFC against Morpeth RFC and Barkers Butts RFC.

Morpeth beat Barkers Butts in the first game and then it was time for the Old Hales girls to take the field against Morpeth. Old Hales played a great game against a team that had been unbeaten all season and inflicted their first defeat 20 – 7.

Old Hales then had only a 10 minute break before re-entering the fray against Barker Butts who had the benefit of a 45 minute break. Again it was a hard fought game but the weariness in the legs following on from the previous game proved to be Old Hales undoing and we went down 17-7.

This meant all teams had won one game apiece and the final positions were decided on point’s difference with Barkers Butts getting the nod by only four points to Old Hales. This was a disappointing way for the day to end with the luck of the draw really deciding who should go through to the final between three evenly matched teams.

Finishing in the top six teams in the country is a huge achievement for the Old Hales girls, the team, the club and ladies rugby in the Midlands. It has given the entire girls section up at Wassell Grove at under 13, 15 and 18 the encouragement to go on to work harder and finish higher in next seasons competitions.

Old Halesonians Mini & Junior Section set up their girls section three years ago; initially to allow some girls who had played up through their mixed teams to under-11s to continue to play the sport they loved. The section has since gone from strength to strength and is now running full teams in all the girls’ age groupings of under-13s, under-15s and under-18s.