Shelford Ladies Collect the Silverware at Majorca Beach Rugby 2010

Fortunately the volcanic ash cloud decided to take a break long enough to let Shelford Ladies go on tour over the May bank holiday weekend, to the Majorca Beach Rugby tournament, held on Magaluf Beach.  

On day one of the tournament, sadly our first opposition were a no show, but we soon found ourselves storming to a 6-1 win in our next game against Bracknell Ladies.  Later that afternoon we fought our way to a tough draw against Oban Ladies, before heading off to the tournament bar for a few bevvies. 

Day two dawned with us looking a little worse for wear, but fortunately the tournament organisers had anticipated that and our first game wasn't until half past twelve.  Our opposition weren't keen (clearly scared), offering to forego the round robin games left to play and give us byes straight to the final.  But we demanded to play, it was a rugby tournament, so why not! We played Bracknell Ladies for a second time, winning 6-1 again; then despite a controversial sin-binning scraped a 3 all draw with Oban.

Having woken up our fly half, we headed on to the pitch for the final against Oban determined to take home the silverware.  It was touch and go, the score went our way, then in Oban's favour, then we pulled it back to a 4-4 draw.  With only five minutes in each half of the game, the clock was rapidly running down, but some excellent work with the ball sucked in Oban's players and gifted Lynne Pilbeam the winning try for Shelford in the corner.  Claire Sweeney (yes, that Claire Sweeney!) presented the trophy, which will shortly be on display in the club house.

Big thanks go to Charlie, for organising such an excellent tour; Clem, for a hastily constructed training session in beach rugby laws the week before; and the organisers of Majorca Beach Rugby for such a fantastic event.  We will probably see you next year!