Burnley girls rugby played their first game together as Burnley RUFC at a regional sevens competition hosted by Keswick Rugby club.

Teams from as far afield as Sunderland to Ormskirk took part, demonstrating how much girls rugby is growing and gaining interest in all areas of the north.

The under 13s competition was played in the best spirit with plenty of tries being scored by all of the girls and Burnley Girls progressed through to the final having won all of their pool games – scoring a total of 24 tries along the way.

The final was against Sunderland who they already beaten in the pool stage but they were by far the toughest opposition that they had met.

Burnley played some excellent rugby and the leadership from Elona Bythel and Masie Durkin coming through. The score at the end of play was tied 5 -5 so a period of golden point was played which last what seemed like 30 minutes and was very competitive with both sets of girls putting everything into the game.

The deadlock was finally broken by excellent support play to allow Elicia Farnworth to score in the corner.

“Great credit has to go to all of the girls who took part and put in such an amazing performance,” said Jason Bell who helped run the team.

The team included Willow Bell, Tabetha Burrell, Masie Durkin, Anya Richmond, Elona Bythel, Elicia Farnworth, Sophie Gavin and Ellie (from Cockermouth).

The Burnley U15 girls joined with West Park St Helens to form a team which also went unbeaten through the day and won their competition with strong performances from Cerys Ellis, Emma Wall, Anya Richmond and Polly Bell.

All of the girls have now been invited to play in the girls national sevens at Lichfield.