Sunday 13th January 08.
The eagerly awaited game between the two U15 sides took place this afternoon in Spalding.The players from both clubs became friends last year following the closely fought game in the semi final of the Herts 7's. That weekend took its toll on both sides, and meant that due to injuries neither side would have sufficient players to put a squad together for the National 7's the following week. The situation was quickly resolved when 3 of the Spalding girls joined with our girls to put on a brilliant show of rugby, scoring many points on the way to the final against Cramberleigh.The efforts of all the girls that day saw them walk away with runners up medals and some great memories of some fantastic rugby.
Todays game started off as expected with both sets of backs seeing plenty of the ball, and first blood was drawn by Spalding when the Basford defense failed to put the usual wall in front of the opposing players and allowed them through to go 5-0 up within 5mins. The girls quickly rallied and it wasn't long before they had levelled the score with Lucie converting to give us a slender lead(5-7).
The game was being played at a fast pace throughout, and only some excellent defence from both teams stopped the scores running up. The Basford forwards were slowly starting to make headway, and a quick ball of the back of a maul allowed the girls to breakawy for their 2nd try(5-12). No sooner had Spalding kicked off when they put the Basford defence under pressure again and some subtle handling played to ball across the park for them to run in their 2nd try(10-12). The game was still very much in the balance with both sets of forwards putting in some big tackles in the centre of the field. It wasnt just the forwards who were putting it about, the backs were everywhere mopping up when ever one side tried to break through.Just before half time, the Basford girls broke through to add another 10 points to their score.Going in at half time the girls were (22-10)up, but knew that any lapses of concentration and they would soon be staring at a defeat. As the 2nd half wore on, the Basford girls began to exert a bit more pressure and began to find holes in the Spalding defence. The Basford girls ran in a further 6 tries in the 2nd half to record a 52-10 victory. Although the score line may look like the girls had it all their own way, nothing was further from the truth. The Spalding girls never stopped running and putting in some big hits.It should also be mentioned that this was only the 2nd game that the girls had played this season, and with a bit more rugby under their belts they will give any team a run for their money. There were some truly outstanding tackles going in today, and Amy Tinn, Emily H, Bronagh and Ellis to name a few,made our girls work for the whole game. The whole of the team were a credit to themselves and the coaching staff.
Back in the club house, the coaches picked their "man of the match" from the opposing teams. Basford man of the match went to Amy Browne who given that she has only played a handful of competetive games was outstanding going forward with the ball in hand. Spalding's man of the match was Emily Haines who continually ran out the basford defence and caused them all sorts of problems.
The after match drink off of a pint of orange squash between the 2 players was a close run affair and I would think a draw would be a just decision.
A big big thanks to all the payers, coaches and parents at Spalding for making us welcome today, and to the ladies who provided a lovely warm meal after the game.
We look forward to returning the welcome down at Rochford in a few weeks.
Basford: Megan,Lucie,Alex,Amy,Frances,Yasmin,Layla,Olivia, Abbie,Madeleine,Jessica and mouse.
Spalding: Amy T,Amy V,Ellis,Annabel,Tessa,Emily H,Jess,Emily P,Bronagh and Vanessa.
Tries: Alex 3,Abbie 3,Madeleine 2, Layla, Jess
Cons: Lucie 1.
Well done to all the girls for a fantastic display of rugby.
