Basford Girls shine at County

Sunday 4th November 07

Last Sunday saw the 2nd County Game of the season take place at Rochford Rugby Club.

Our own Basford girls turned out to represent Essex at Rochford against a very good Kent County side.
From the off, the game was played at a terrific pace with both teams playing some excellent rugby.No quarter was given by either side with some big tackles being made across the park.
Kent took the lead after some poor handling by the Essex side allowed them to break through the normally robust defense for Iona Todd to touch down. 5-0.

The Girls kept on playing to their game plan, and the forwards continued to make in roads into the Kent half of the park.
Following yet another turn over at the scrum, the ball was fed to mouse who pulled a perfect pass to Abby out on the wing who then raced through the Kent defence to touch down. 5-5, although the conversion was pulled wide the girls now had the upper hand.
The forwards were dominating the scrum with some excellent play by Ellie, Jess and Frances in the front row with Meg and Lucie providing that push from second row. Alex as usual was ever alert and quick of the back of the scrum to support Jessica at scrum half.
It would be fair to say that up to the moment when Frances went off injured we were totally in control of the scrum. However having lost Frances, we had to revert to uncontested scrums due to the lack of an experienced prop to replace her, and our physical advantage went along with frances.
The backs were seeing plenty of ball throughout the game and some strong running and tackling kept Kent at bay.
Maddy playing her first game at full back had the safest hands on the pitch and continually ran at the Kent side whenever she got a chance.The support play from Layla, Yasmin and Olivia in the centre allowed the girls to mount another attack on the Kent line and some deft handling from Ellie, Meg and Lucie fed the ball to Alex who broke through to go over for the 2nd and what proved to be the winning try. 10-5.
Kent did not give up and a mistake by the Essex girls from a scrum gave Iona Todd from Kent the opportunity to run at the line for what would have been an equalising try. However a deft little tap tackle on the ankle of Iona by Yasmin caused her to stumble forward and spill the ball.
The referee deciding that there wasnt time to scrum down, blew the whistle to bring to an end a fantastic display of rugby and a well deserved win for the Essex Girls.
After a brief respite, the girls took to the field again to play against a Kent Development side who had travelled over with their A team.
Although the first game had taken its toll on the girls, with Frances being unable to carry on and Anna (Westcliff) having to leave early, the girls played on against 13man Kent with 12 players, but proved far too strong for their opponents and ran out eventual winners 51-0.
A big thanks to Kent for coming over today to give the Girls what was undoubtedly the hardest game they had faced this season.

(Essex Squad Basford Girls)
Megan (Capt), Ellie, Alex, Jess H, Frances,Lucie, Jessica, Yasmin, Layla, Olivia, Mouse, Maddy, and Abby.
Tries: Abby, Alex 10-5
Tries: Lucie (2), Alex(2), Jessica, Layla, Mouse, Abbie(2)
Cons: Yasmin (3) 51-0
Well done to all those girls.