THE John Kyrle under-15 girls rugby team finished off their unbeaten season by winning the North Midlands schools tournament.

The side were representing Herefordshire at the event held at Five Ways Old Edwardians in Birmingham and were up against strong opposition from Greater Birmingham, Shropshire and Worcestershire.

In the pool stages, John Kyrle beat North Shropshire 20-5 thanks to a brace of tries from captain Carys Lowley and Cerys Johnson.

They then overcame Summerhill School from Kingswinford, 35-0.

Lowley and Johnson again grabbed tries, with the others coming from Amie Jenkins, Maisie Tucker, Ellie Lown, Anna Craig, Heidi Brodholt,

In the final group game, John Kyrle had a convincing 35-5 win over John Taylor High School from Burton-upon-Trent, with Lowley bagging four more tries, another for Craig and one apiece for Ella Jones and Laura Rose Benjamin, the latter scoring her first ever try.

In the final, the opponents were Thomas Alleyne’s High School from Uttoxeter.

They proved to be strong opposition and put pressure on the John Kyrle forwards at the breakdown and forced several handling errors from the backs.

But it was Hollee Hayward who broke the deadlock with a well-timed pass from Lowley, sending her diving over the try line.

This settled John Kyrle who then began to use the width of the pitch.

With their opposition deep in their own half, it was Johnson who cut a great angle to break the first line of defence, however she was tackled just short of the line.

Luckily, she managed to pop the ball out of the tackle to Tucker who sprinted in to score the winning try and seal the victory.