The side, many of whom haven’t played any competitive sevens rugby for two years, were offered a place in the competition despite having been relegated to the Trophy last time around.
They finished 8th in the tournament after a tough opening day with heavy losses to Poland (36-0), Belgium (34-7) and eventual winners Russia (47-5), and a narrow loss to hosts Portugal (15-12). Day Two opened in a much more positive fashion with a 42-0 win over Romania before another close game to Germany, losing 12-10 at the death.
Abrahams said, “We decided to take the opportunity we were given to play in the Championship and we are pleased we did that. We have benefitted individually and collectively from the experience and we can only learn from it as we continue to build as a squad and programme.
“Our aim was to finish in the top seven but the most important thing for us was to see the huge improvement between Game 1 to Game 6 on all levels. The girls’ understanding of the game of sevens clearly improved, our decision-making and execution against Romania at the start of Day 2 was excellent and gave a glimpse of what we are capable of. Even against a World Series team like Russia we showed signs of our potential.
“I’m proud of the character and effort the girls put into every match – they kept fighting throughout every game. We had a fairly short preparation period after the Women’s Six Nations – all our players have played 15 a side rugby all season, some have played little or no rugby this season due to injury and our matches against both Portugal and Germany at the end of both days were lost in the final play of the games.
“We look forward to getting back on the training pitch this weekend and continuing our progress.”
