HEREFORD Roller Girls are now ranked 70th in Europe after their latest success in the Heartland Roller Derby bouts.

The city side boosted their ranking by 15 places with the European Flat Track Roller Derby statistics updated to take into account the latest results for the continent's 358 teams.

"This is an incredible achievement," said the club's Dee Montague.

"Hereford Roller Girls are just three years old.

"For some context, the team above us, Sheffield Steel Roller Girls, are six years old and have an established A and B team."

Hereford, meanwhile, are the first club to qualify for the finals of the Heartland Series Roller Derby Tournament, Europe's biggest tournament in the sport, after a comprehensive 363-58 win over South Wales' Reaper Roller Girls.

The Bulls took an immediate lead and, despite the best efforts of the Reapers, led 162-29 at half-time.

The South Wales team came back fighting, but they just couldn't break the Hereford defence or hold back the jammers. The 363-58 guarantees the Horror Bulls their place at the finals weekend in November.

After the game awards were given out, Jessica Warrington won Best Blocker, Kelly Michael won Best Jammer, Most Valuable Player was Kim Wild, and a special Team Spirit award went to team captain Becce Turner.

"It was an incredible game with a result that was testament to the hard work of everyone at HRG throughout the season," said Turner. "We went into the competition with the aim of reaching the finals, and have trained incredibly hard to get where we are.

"We won't be resting now; we're unbeaten this season and our aim is to keep it that way."

The Heartland Series is Europe's largest inter-league flat track roller derby tournament, with 24 teams in 4 divisions, with Hereford's Horror Bulls in the North West Division.

There is one game left to play in the divisional stage, but Hereford's unbeaten season mean they are the first team of the whole series to qualify for the 2014 finals.

This was also Hereford's first UKRDA (United Kingdom Roller Derby Association) sanctioned game, they will now join the UK's own national ranking system.

The Horror Bulls last game of the North West division is an away game against Derby's Haunted City, on October 12. This will be hosted by Shrewsbury's Evolution Roller Girls and full details will be released in the coming weeks.

Visit www.herefordrollergirls.co.uk for more information about the team, including details of how to get involved with Hereford Roller Girls.