The Festival Got Cancelled, So Three Clubs' Girls Played on Saracens' Own Pitch Instead

An under-14 girls' rugby festival at Saracens was called off during the week for lack of entries. Families from 7Wells - a joint girls' section run between Tunbridge Wells RFC and Sevenoaks RFC - and Ashford RFC had already booked their Saturday around it, with tickets bought for the afternoon's Saracens Women vs Exeter Chiefs Women PWR Cup match. Rather than scrap the day, the two clubs arranged their own fixture, Dean Ward provided a trophy and medals for a one-off “Ash7Wells Cup,” and Saracens agreed to host it anyway - on the StoneX Stadium pitch itself.

The match was ten-a-side over four 12-minute quarters, uncontested scrums, no conversions - and, on a Premiership pitch, an open, exhausting game for both squads' rolling subs (12 for 7Wells, 13 for Ashford). 7Wells scored through seven different players and led 30-0 at the first-quarter break: Lottie inside three minutes, then Sophie (twice), Phoebe, Holly and Rosie. Lottie and Tilly extended it to 40-0 before Ashford's Iris opened her side's account, Sydney restoring a 45-5 half-time lead for 7Wells.

Ashford rallied after the break - Iris added two more for a hat-trick, Hettie got on the scoresheet - but Rosie and a hat-trick apiece from Lottie and the player-of-the-match Sophie saw 7Wells home 60-20. Captain Nella led the carrying and the work at the breakdown, Scarlett ran the game from scrum half, and front-rowers Phoebe and Sydney both crossed to score. Chantelle Miell, a GB Sevens international, refereed.

The 25 girls from the two clubs weren't done once the final whistle went. After an hour's rest, they formed a guard of honour for the Saracens and Exeter Chiefs players walking out for the PWR Cup tie - pros passing girls who, as the clubs put it, may one day have a guard of honour of their own. Sophie and Lottie, 7Wells' and Ashford's players of the match, were made Saracens mascots for the day; Felicity, Phoebe and Holly worked the touchline as ball girls. At half-time, the two sides played out an exhibition of touch rugby in front of the PWR Cup crowd. Afterwards, a second queue formed - this time for autographs, as the same girls who'd played a full match that morning waited for signatures from the players they'd just guarded onto the pitch.

It's a response to a real pattern: Women in Sport research has found 43% of girls who see themselves as sporty at primary school drift away from sport as teenagers, against 24% of boys. Whatever the scoreline, the point of Saturday was that a cancelled festival didn't have to mean a cancelled day for the girls it was supposed to be for. Sources: Tunbridge Wells RFC match report, Tunbridge Wells RFC