ENGLAND women's rugby team, which includes Emma Croker from Charter Alley, won the Team of the Year award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show.

The World Cup winners took the honour beating off competition from Europe's Ryder Cup golfers and the Mercedes F1 team.

It completed a great year for the team, which beat Canada 21-9 in Paris to win the World Cup for the first time since 1994.

Croker, wife of former Basingstoke RFC director of rugby James Croker,  was present at the ceremony in Glasgow, said: “It was really surreal to win, as it is a massive prize, when you look at who we were up against.”

See Thursday’s Gazette for the full story.