ALMOST a month of nervous tension has ended for 16-year-old Abby Blackburn with the news that she has been selected for the under-19 England women's rugby squad.

The selection procedure started in the late summer with open trials, from which 50 hopefuls were invited to two further trial and training weekends at Broadstreet RFC, Coventry.

Now the RFUW has named the final 25 who will represent their country in matches against Wales and, possibly, Holland and Sweden.

Abby began playing rugby at the age of five when, encouraged by her older brother Oliver, she joined Darlington Mowden Park's minis. She played mixed rugby until she was forced into retirement at the age of 12 when she was no longer eligible to play in a boys' team.

At that time there were no girls' teams and she expected to have to wait until she was 16 to join a women's team. She therefore concentrated on hockey and helped with mini rugby at Mowden.

However, when the RFUW began to promote under-16 girls' rugby, Mowden Park embraced the initiative and established a girls' team.

Abby was one of the founder members of the team three seasons ago. Since then she has played county and North East regional rugby and last season was privileged to captain both representative sides.

This summer Abby attended her second England Junior Performance camp at Loughborough University and thought that this would be the pinnacle of her career - selection for the England squad has exceeded her expectations and matched her dreams.

She said: "I'm absolutely thrilled and delighted. The hard work has paid off, but in many ways it's just beginning - I know that there's going to be a lot of tough training ahead but I'm really looking forward to it.

"I'm now training with Thirsk Sharks, who are in Premiership 1, but my roots are in Mowden. I could not have achieved what I have without the coaching, support and encouragement of Darlington Mowden Park and would like to thank everyone at the club who has helped me so far.

"I'm also grateful to Steve Errington, commercial director of Skanem UK Ltd for securing his company's sponsorship for me."

Abby, a student at Darlington's Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, is studying AS levels in PE, psychology, English, general studies, leisure and recreation and hopes to eventually pursue her sporting career at university.

As well as training with Thirsk, she plays under-18 girls' rugby at Mowden and is also a member of Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College's newly-formed girls' team.