Dings Crusaders sealed Papa Johns Women’s Junior Cup Final glory with a 24-12 victory over Liverpool St Helens at Twickenham, during an end-of-season celebration of grassroots rugby on Papa Johns Community Cup Finals Day.
Dings captain April Callanan touched down twice, including an unforgettable score midway through the first half, which, combined with a further try from scrum-half Cara Ellis and expert kicking from Tillie Westwood saw them over the line.
Liverpool St Helens more than played their part in an enthralling final at HQ, with tries of their own coming through Luci McColm and Rachael Thomas, but they were just edged out by an inspired Dings team.
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The Merseysiders had won all of their matches before the final by sizeable margins and they began the final with a bang, as hooker Thomas was the beneficiary of an excellent driving maul.
Quickly Dings hit back though, with captain and outside centre Callanan scoring a simply breath-taking try that the Grand Slam winning Red Roses would have been proud of - scooping up the ball from inside their own half and weaving her way all the way to the line.
Her second came shortly after in a much more routine way, finishing off a well-worked backs move to put the Bristolians into the lead.
Dings came out firing in the second half too, and Ellis’ try put them into a commanding 21-7 lead.
McColm’s try for Liverpool St Helens put them briefly back into contention, but a late penalty from Tillie Westwood sealed the deal for Dings and it was them who lifted the trophy.
The Papa Johns Community Cup was created to provide a crescendo to the end of the grassroots season, keeping players engaged throughout the spring and giving clubs a chance to still compete for silverware regardless of how their league campaign went.
As well as lifting a trophy, all 29 teams that win across the Papa Johns Community Cup games will automatically be entered in a prize to win a visit from a Red Roses’ coach and a free Papa Johns pizza order. Other teams who competed in the Papa Johns Community Cup competitions also have chance to win by submitting their best try from the competition.
Dings captain and try-scoring hero Callanan said: “That experience was just out of this world, the girls put a shift in and we just pulled it out of the bag today and I am just so pleased.
“It doesn’t beat that, scoring a try at Twickenham, that one will go down in the record books for me definitely.
“Honestly it is amazing to play at Twickenham, it has been a dream of mine and hopefully I will play here again!”
Over 500 clubs took part in 29 Papa Johns Community Cup competitions across the women’s and men’s game, with the home of England Rugby hosting the first set of finals.
The next set of Papa Johns Community Cup Finals days will held across the weekend of 6 and 7 May at Sixways, Twickenham, StoneX and Darlington Mowden Park.
For more about the Papa Johns Community Cup visit englandrugby.com/pjccup and follow @RFU Twitter and #PapaJohnsCommunityCup to keep across the action!
