BASINGSTOKE Rugby Club Ladies won their first ever Touch Rugby tournament held at Maidenhead.

The whole day proved a great success for the players who in the morning took part in various coaching sessions with former England women’s coach Gary Street and other touch coaches.

They put to good use what they had learned, by turning in a number of great performances in the afternoon.

The Ladies first game saw them win 3-0 over Reading Vikings, as skipper Emily Richardson finished off a series of drives with a score in the corner for the first score, which was quickly followed by two more.

Next up a tough game against Didcot, a side who have been playing for a while, however the Stoke defence was rock solid, allowing Didcot only one score, with ‘Stoke picking up a score themselves, as the game ended 1-1. The third game for the Ladies was against Maidenhead Mohawks, and in a pulsating game it finished 2-2.

Claire Kelly stood out with some brilliant drives and Zoe Semmens extremely quick in defence, closing down the Mohawks.

That draw was enough to see unbeaten Stoke into the semi-final where a superb team performance against Didcot's second team saw them win 3-0, as Lucy Sadler put in a huge shift for the team in defence and attack.

This set-up a rematch with Didcot’s first team and it proved to be a hotly contested game. Stoke spent long periods on the backfoot, but their defence was well marshalled by skipper Emily Richardson.

Then in the last minute of the game, Stoke took advantage of a turnover to run a series of fast drives which produced the winning score.

Coach Steve Parker said: “It was a great day of rugby, the girls had some quality coaching in the morning “They took those lessons into the games, it was great to see how hard they were working as a team and the improvement they’ve shown in the last few weeks training really came out.

"I am really proud of the girls, they’ve worked so hard on their game and it was a great bonus to take home their first piece of silverware.”