Epsom College’s girls went one better than their runner-up finish at last year’s Sussex Open Sevens, claiming the 2010 event at Christ’s Hospital School on Sunday.

On a bright but bitterly cold day, the Epsom girls sailed through their group matches, beating Worthing College, Wisbech Grammar School, last year’s winners SEEVIC College and St Bede’s, scoring 75 points and conceding just seven.

Training with boys on defensive pressure proved ideal preparation for the semi-final against Pangbourne College, when the Epsom girls starved their opponents of possession and denied them any scoring opportunities.

A hat-trick of tries from Tamsin Barber sealed a 19-0 victory to see them through to the final against Cranbrook.

With both teams on the pitch raring to go in the final, a 15-minute wait for the referee did little to calm the nerves and, when the game did start, Cranbrook used their size and strength to camp in the Epsom 22 for much the first half.

Despite the pressure, however, the Epsom defence held firm and, the first time the ball was moved wide, it was Barber again charging down the pitch to open the scoring.

After a half-time pep talk, Epsom started to move the ball into space and quickly scored a second try, with Milly Shopland crawling over the line.

Cranbrook came back strongly to score a converted try before some some nimble footwork and ball skills from Emma Albon released Barber to score her second try of the final and eighth of the day.

The final score was 17-7 in Epsom’s favour and the icing on the cake came with Barber being named player of the tournament.

Other try scorers on the day were captain Natalie Sciver (three), Emma Albon (two), Milly Shopland (two), Caitlin Keep (two), Wendy Sun (one) and Sophie Reynolds (one).

“The girls were deserved winners as they played the best rugby of the day. They had the vision to move the ball into space and the killer instinct to score when it got there,” said coach Tom Doran With 111 points scored and only 14 conceded in this tournament, the Epsom girls will have high hopes of doing well in the National Sevens at Rosslyn Park on March 25-26.

“You never know how good some teams will be at Rossyln Park, but with the talent we have, I believe nothing is out of our range,” Doran aded.

While the Epsom girls were sweeping to victory, the boys’ first VII found themselves in a very tough group in their section of the Sussex Open, a tournament they had won in three of the previous four years.

In the group matches, they beat Hurtwood House 45-7, but lost 19-12 to Cranbrook and 7-0 to Filton College to finish third, which moved them into the Shield competition.

A 25-7 win over St Joseph’s Ipswich in the quarter final and a comfortable 35-7 win over local rivals St John’s in the semi-final saw the College side reach the Shield final, where they played Bishop’s Stortford College.

Despite being 17-0 up at half-time in the final and looking good for victory, Epsom were unable to sustain the momentum in the second half as Bishop’s Stortford moved up a few gears to run out 41-17 winners.