The England Deaf women's team competed in two games of sevens rugby against the Bulgarian national women's sevens team, who usually play in the Sevens Rugby Europe Conference One.
After a very physical encounter against a talented Bulgarian national sevens squad the women secured a draw in the first game, with a final score of 20-20. Hanratty turning the ball over and running under the post to score the first try of the match for England Deaf. Hanratty then went on to score another try off the back of some great defensive play from Kingsman, Dives and Whittaker. Hussell displayed great support play throughout the game and was then rewarded with a try of her own. With the clock running down and England Deaf 15-20 down, it fell to the last play of the game. The women slowed the game down, led by the experience of captain L'aquaniello. The women showed great perseverance and confidence to build up from their own 22, if anyone was going to bring the game to a draw it was L'aquaniello, making the break and diving over the line.
(No conversions happened during this game due to equipment issues)

In the second game our wonderful women encountered another physical and fast paced game. However the women high on confidence and team spirit dug deep to win the game 14-5. Hanratty again made a break running under the posts to score following some superb attacking lines from Mills and Watson. Cooke (making her sevens debut) spotted a gap in the defence to get over the line for her first try for England Deaf. Equipment issues resolved Hanratty converted both trys.

The final result is superb for the women's team who have limited deaf international teams to play against. Our ladies are leading the way in international deaf rugby and have quickly become the team to follow.