WANDERERS Ladies attended the final Scottish Rugby Union-organised national training and development event of the season on Sunday when they travelled through to Dalkeith in the outskirts of Edinburgh.

A total of 70 girls — 17 of them from Wanderers — converged on the venue for a training session and competitive games in what turned out to be another informative and entertaining session.

Wanderers equipped themselves exceptionally well and saved their best performance of the season for this last outing.

Once the training part of the session was over the locals played two matches against old rivals Annan and a Combined Universities side.

Annan started brightly in the opening match and caught the Greenock girls napping by scoring an early try.

Wanderers reacted quickly and moved comfortably through the gears to produce an excellent performance.

Seonaid Knox ruled the roost at scrum-half and the driving runs of Kathryn Avis meant Wanderers held the initiative for the remainder of the match.

In total, eight tries were scored, with captain Caitlyn Haldane bagging a hat-trick, Tina Hemphill securing a brace and Hannah Mutton, Lesley Routledge and Knox all dotting down to ensure a comfortable victory. The powerful and elusive running of skipper Haldane and the rampaging style of Hemphill were major features of the Wanderers victory.

The second match was a much tighter affair but once more the local girls rose to the occasion and a try apiece for Mutton and Routledge was enough to edge the contest over a very strong Combined Universities side by two tries to one.

Both scores were long-range efforts after good lead-up work by the backs.

Rachel Speirs posted an outstanding performance in defence and newcomers Chloe Arnott and Sophie Demelas also showed some nice touches and proved they will be valuable additions to the squad.

The outing was another great success for the Greenock ladies and for skipper Haldane in particular, who was awarded the Dame of the Game award.

The locals continue to grow their reputation at national level and, although a formal decision is still awaited, it appears likely that they will be admitted into mainstream competition next season.

That would be a fantastic achievement for this young side and much credit goes to team manager John McIntyre and coaches Brendan McGroarty and Steven Haldane.

The girls themselves though deserve most praise as they have responded to the leadership shown by skipper Haldane and worked hard throughout the season to develop and achieve their goals.

The ladies will now take part in numerous sevens competitions and play an exhibition match during the forthcoming Wanderers Festival weekend.

Wanderers are sponsored by Texas Instruments.