Tornadoes were crowned Champions of the 2008 Super League series on Sunday May 11th at Heythrop Park.

The Tornadoes, coached by coached by former England A Head Coach Amanda Bennett and Mark Francis, ran in two tries courtesy of Emily Scarratt and England forward Sarah Hunter, with fly-half Katy McLean adding two vital conversions to edge the championship win.

The final, which was a re-run of last year’s final, was a high quality game with both teams dominating periods of the match.

The England stars on both teams performed well but the game demonstrated the strength in depth in the women’s rugby with a number of young talented players from the regional programme proving themselves.

Darlington Mowden Park Sharks player McLean was handed the accolade of Player of the Match after she ran the game well and threatened the defence as well as kicked well tactically.

McLean was also well supported by her teammates, including another solid performance from Lichfield’s Scarratt while Darel Powel and Lois Moulding also impressed.

Thunder came back well at the Tornadoes but couldn’t quite make use of the possession they had, giving away valuable ball at the breakdown and making handling errors under pressure. 

Thunder scored through Suzy Kendall, and Liz Riley touched down on the 60th but their efforts were not enough with Tornadoes taking the victory.

In the third/fourth place play-off match, the Stormers were triumphant defeating the Celtic Hurricanes 26-10.

Before kick-off both teams had been disrupted by injuries and unavailability, but the game proved to be a physical and entertaining clash with the Celtic Hurricanes dominating early pressure and territory through Leslie Cripps, Susie Appleby and Vicki Schiavon.

At half-time the Hurricanes were leading 10-7 through tries by Donna Kennedy and Caroline Rees following a driven maul. Claire Purdy scored the Stormers’ first try following a good hand-off and run to the line which Wasps fly-half Shelly Rae converted.

After the break, the game followed the same pattern and the Stormers’ scored a try against the run of play through England captain Catherine Spencer. The No. 8’s score proved crucial as it turned the game and in the last ten minutes the Stormers ran in two further tries through Selly Rae and Sarah Guest. With three conversions from the boot of Rae, Stormers took the victory.

Ends…