Shock and amazement may have been the overriding emotions first up but a London-based women’s sevens team are determined to keep their winning run going in the nationwide Secure Trading 24/Sevens competition.

Made up of players who either currently work, or used to work, at the company, Accenture Ladies swept all before them at the recent Middlesex 7s tournament, held at Richmond Athletic Ground.

The tournament formed part of this season’s Secure Trading 24/Sevens competition, run by the RFU, which is a community sevens series pitching the country’s best amateur teams competing across qualifying events followed by four regional competitions.

With a mixture of experience and enthusiasm, Accenture Ladies emerged victorious on April 30, not only ensuring bragging rights in the office the following week but also booking their spot at the South East Regional play-off on July 8.

Another victory there would book their place in the national final at Bath Rugby’s Recreation Ground on July 29 but for now, the team was just savouring their winning moment.

“We were absolutely gobsmacked to win, everyone was buzzing at work afterwards,” said Sam Bedford, who plays in the team and also works as a management consultant for Accenture.

“We are a work team so we’re a bunch of girls that get together and play. We did not expect to do that well, we just turned up to give it our best go so to come out on top was amazing.

“Quite a lot of us have played before but there were a few new players as well.

“We had three girls playing on the day who we taught to tackle on their knees on Clapham Common and they had only played a couple of times before.

“We won our first game which we were surprised by but then we kept getting better as the day went on, particularly in the final.

“We only had eight players so it was very tiring but they did such a good job. When we got to the final we were thinking we have done well to get this far, we weren’t expecting to win.”

Following on from the success of last year’s Secure Trading 24/Sevens, the competition this year features three different tiers – elite, open and social.

There are 38 different qualifiers taking place from April through to June before four regional play-offs and the final in July where a bumper crowd is expected in Bath.

Sevens rugby is a key part of England Rugby’s work with Sport England, broadening high quality playing opportunities for all players – and Bedford was a keen supporter of seeing more opportunities for women.

“It’s good to get women’s rugby on the map with this tournament and good to have the opportunity to try something new,” she added.

“We live all over London and we have girls who play for different teams such as Blackheath and Richmond.

“We all hold various roles at Accenture, and there’s a couple of alumni as well.

“We had a couple of girls who could not play this time who I know will want to come back for the next round.

“We are really excited for the regional play-offs. The shock of winning the qualifiers made it even more exciting but we want to keep progressing in the tournament.”

Secure Trading 24/Sevens, is an exciting grassroots sevens competition run by England Rugby. The competition is open for all clubs and players, new and existing to enter, with local qualifiers taking place in 38 locations nationwide this summer. Visit www.englandrugby.com/24sevens to get involved.