THE county’s girl rugby stars have ended their season on a high, with players from Tynedale featuring prominently.

Northumberland Girls have won almost every match they competed in at three recent festivals, at Tynedale RFC, Ryton FC, and Carlisle RFC, in different age groups.

The U18s took on Durham and Cumbria in 15-a-side, sevens, and x-sevens matches, at all three festivals, and enjoyed a 100 per cent record.

And the U18s excelled this season despite losing two of their stars to Premiership club duty, and another to the army.

Holly Thorpe and Maisie James have both made debuts for Loughborough Lightning’s second XV, and Darlington Mowden Park second XV, respectively, while Charlotte Tweddle (17) has represented the British Army team.

Meanwhile, Northumberland U15s lost only one match, against Durham, at a festival which took place at Tynedale RFC’s home ground, at Corbridge.

Tynedale Rugby Club’s Nick Oliver said: “Girls rugby is particularly strong in the Tyne Valley with Tynedale RFC providing a lot of players to Northumberland, and Ryton RFC doing the same for Durham.

“Morpeth, Whitley Bay Rockliff, Alnwick, and Novos, provide a lot of other of the players to Northumberland.

“The girls’ game is a focus for Rugby Football Union (RFU) development that is bearing fruit with rapidly rising player numbers and ever-improving standards which has recently been reinforced by England’s emphatic Grand Slam in the Six Nations.”

Nick has been coaching youth rugby at Tynedale for the past two decades. In recent seasons he has taken girls rugby to new levels of success.

Tynedale Panthers now have active squads at U13, U15 and U18 level, with several of the girls featuring in county, North of England, and national development squads.

For more information about junior rugby opportunities at Tynedale RFC, visit https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/tynedalerugbyfootballclub.

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