On a murky grey morning at Guildfordians, the U14 girls from Quins, Teddington, Camberley and Guildford took part in the annual Guildfordians Girls 10's festival, organised by former England player Leanne Infante.

Organised into four pools, the U14's category was expected to be well contested. Guilberquintons would face Old Reigatians in their opening match of Pool B, running out convincing 40-10 winners in the short, sharp match, playing in our partner club Camberley's colours.

Further pool games against Farnham and Ealing resulted in 30-5 and 30-10 victories, with our Festival Squad of 14 rotated well to ensure everyone was kept as fresh as possible.

A semi-final against Battersea awaited after a short break, as the winners from Pool A. Coach Jay gave a stirring pre-match talk to discourage any distracting thoughts of a final at this point, reminding the girls to be where their feet were and enjoy the semi-final.

A strong start with 2 tries in the first three minutes though must have made that very difficult! Nerves would have jangled as Battersea got one back but Maya restored our lead before the half time break to calm the mood. Three more tries in the first four minutes of the second half settled it convincingly though and although Battersea fought back a result of 30-10 saw them through to the Cup final!

A small but enthusiastic crowd gathered for the final, including a wonderful group from our Training Squad who were keen to shout their support, showing team camaraderie and espousing our cluster's character.

Parents were certainly nervous as the game got underway against a Uckfield/Haywards Heath team who were certainly more physically imposing than any of our previous opposition. A tough battle ensued, but good discipline, teamwork and support for each other took us into a 10-0 half-time lead.

The sloping pitches at Guildfordians certainly present a challenge, but our girls showed wonderful fitness and never looked like they were struggling even after four and a half games. That fitness certainly helped and using the slope and some great restart kicking to our advantage in the second half, the girls ran in three more tries to just one from Uckfield/Haywards Heath.

A final score of 25-5, and Guilberquinton's lift the U14 Cup. Sheer delight on the faces of the players and supporters meant the early start was most definitely worthwhile.

There was only one thing left to do which was to replicate the Red Roses, and raise the trophy to cheers from the crowd!

Onwards and upwards - a busy programme of friendlies in the run up to Christmas now awaits means all the players will get plenty of game time and experience playing in different positions.

Thank you so much to the organisers at Guildfordians, all the parents and carers who supported with cakes, water, oranges and lifts, but most of all to those girls who didn't play on the day but provided wonderful support to the squad!