Both of these sides have had established girls rugby teams for much longer than Sleaford and combining their resources to compete in the league presented a big challenge for the Sleaford girls, who fielded a depleted team due to injuries and could only muster 12 players; 13 being required for a team.

So Sleaford elected to play 10 a side, which meant that there was plenty of space for the running backs of both teams.

Sleaford scored within the first five two minutes from aggressive forward driving and some direct running from captain Kirsty Grimwood to take a 5-0 lead.

But Spalding and North Hykeham and hit back with a try of their own under the posts, with the conversion putting them 7-5 ahead.

With the Sleaford forwards controlling the game, they dominated for the next 10 minutes but were unable to convert this into scores.

They were pushing hard and causing Spalding and North Hykeham all sorts of problems until the opposition called for uncontested scrums.

This was the turning point of the game and, with Spalding and North Hykeham having the advantage of speed and experience in their backs, they made the best use of that advantage, running in a further three tries in the first half. Megan Collings pulled one back for Sleaford, finishing off a well-worked move.

The second half was dominated by Spalding and North Hykehams backs as they took their score up to 39 points.

But, refusing to give in, Sleaford scored again through Megan Jones, with Collings adding the conversion, and scrum half Hannah Jones took the ball from the base of a ruck and went over for a classic scrum half try.

The final score was 46-22 to Spalding and North Hykeham, with Sleaford left to rue the call for uncontested scrums, which took away the area of the game where they were dominant.

*Girls aged between 10 and 18 who would like to try rugby can go along to training sessions at Sleaford Rugby Club on Wednesdays at 6.30pm or contact head coach Mike Jones on 07748 633821.