National Cup

Sunday 24th Feb 08

Round 1 saw the Basford Girls pooled with London Irish, Welwyn Warriors and Reading.

Thanks should go first to Dave Mattthews and the staff at Camberley Rugby Club for hosting the days rugby.

Following the draw,Basford were first out on pitch one against London Irish.
This game saw both the good and the bad side of rugby. The good side being the passion that both teams put into trying to win the game. From the off neither team were going to give an inch, with the forwards from both teams being kept busy all game. turning round level at half time was probably a fair indication of how the game was going. However it was not long into the 2nd half when Irish got the break through with a well worked try down the right. The Basford girls rallied and continued to press to seek the score that would level the game. With around 5 mins to go a break again down the right allowed Alex Matthews to go over to make it 10-0. With the conversion going over the girls were looking at a 12-0 defeat but the never say die attitude from the girls saw them still trying to play the ball through hands to get some points back.Abbie came close in the dying seconds when a blinding run was stopped just short of the line when she was bundled into touch.
Final score 12-0 to London Irish.
The Bad side was the unsportsman like behaviour of certain members of the London Irish team who felt it neccessary to make jestures towards the Basford Parents and supporters on the sidelines during the game.Also the completely unneccessary follow through on Abbie Cook after she had been bundled into touch.
It may sound like sour grapes having been beaten, but nothing could be further from the truth, we have thoroughly enjoyed our encounters this season as both teams are tested to the limit and on balance London Irish deserve to be in the next round but the ungracious attitude of certain people leave a bad taste. Maybe its a follow on from the ungracious lobbying by the London Irish coach to have Basford removed from the competition before a ball was passed but this attitude from players to supporters has no place in the game.
All credit should go to those girls who apologised for their team mates behaviour after the game.
We wish London Irish all the best in the competition and look forward to playing them again soon.

In the second game the girls came up against Reading, who had just come off the back of a 0-0 draw with Welwyn.The girls quickly got into their stride and used their pace out on the wings to run in 6 tries with Maddy converting one kick.
Tries: Layla,Jess W(2),Lucie,Abbie, Alex.

The final game saw the girls up against our local rivals Welwyn. These games are always a cracking encounter as neither team wants to lose. Even though these girls play together as team mates at Regional level, there is a healthy rivalry at club and county level.
First blood was drawn by Basford when Abbie managed to evade a couple of tackles and do over to make it 5-0. As with our previous encounters, the forwards from both teams are always in the thick of it and yesterday was no exception. The Welwyn backs caused problems throughout for the Basford girls and only some last ditch tackles stopped Welwyn levelling the score.

Results:

London Irish 12 Basford 0
Welwyn 0 Reading 0
London Irish 31 Welwyn 7
Reading 0 Basford 32
London Irish 31 Reading 0
Basford 5 Welwyn 0

Pool Winners: London Irish:

Again thanks to Dave Matthews at London Irish, Malcolm and Janet at Reading and Peter and the girls at Welwyn.
A great day out.

Back to the grindstone next week with an away trip to Swaffham.

EY UP WERE OFF ON TOUR THA KNOWS!

BASFORD RFC TOUR
BOGGLE HOLE, YORKSHIRE 21 – 24 MARCH 2008


Please see travel arrangements for the forthcoming tour

The coach will leave the following pick up points on Good Friday 21st March at the time stated.


• Strawberry Fields (Southend Tesco) 5.00 am
• Haywain Travel Inn (Five Bells Roundabout) 5.30 am
• Brentwood (Junction 28 M25) 6.00 am
• Birchanger Services, M11 6.30am


Luggage space is at a premium so please adhere to the following allowance:
1 bag or suitcase + 1 kit bag for players

We will have stops but bring food and drink for the journey.

Don’t forget:

1. Kit: shorts, undershorts, socks, boots, gum shield, & head/body protection if used.
2. Compulsory items: Dracula fangs and bulb of garlic.


At the meeting on Wednesday 27 February you must all make a final decision as to which pick up/drop off point you will use. This cannot be changed.


We will leave Boggle Hole probably mid to late morning on Monday 24 March, so time of arrival in Essex will be dependent on what time we leave and Bank Holiday traffic.

Parents should expect a telephone call advising them what time to pick you up.

Contact Numbers in case of emergency

Paula Bates 07973 210989
Phil Robson 07783 402214
Tina Turner 07733 024317

Tour Management

Countdown to the Invasion!!

Ladies

Easter is fast approaching, and the long awaited invasion of those tranquil shores ey up north thar knows.

Have you sorted your fancy dress yet!!!
The theme is Superhero's / TV characters

Tour essentials are A BULB OF GARLIC AND FALSE DRACULA FANGS you will be punished without them!!!!!!!

Can you please remind all parents that the pre tour meeting is at Rochford on Wed 27th Feb @7pm. At least one parent must attend to sign the requisite paperwork.

Sunday 17th Feb 08

U15's v Reading
Sonning Lane
Reading

Yesterday saw a squad depleted by Half term holidays and injury travel round to Reading for what would be a taster ready for next weeks National Cup pool game.

On a sunny day with the pitches in excellent condition it was all set for a good days rugby.

In a closely contested first half, the opening score went to the Basford girls when a well worked move saw Lucie go over the line 5-0. This was quickly followed by a second try for the girls courtesy of Alex 10-0.Reading quickly fought back with a well worked try through Rebecca Moore 10-5. The rest of the first half was largely played in the centre of the field, with both teams struggling to impose themselves further on the game.
The second half started a bit brighter, with Meg taking a quick tap penalty to run through the Reading defence to score, Maddy duly converting her kick 17-5.
The forwards were still struggling to impose themselves and with the backs at times running into trouble the game looked like heading to a dull conclusion.
A stern talking to from Peter at one of the injury breaks, seemed to give the girls the kick they needed and the ball started to be played through the hands a bit quicker which resulted in further tries for Alex and Lucie along with 2 for Jess Wilkins. With Maddy putting away 2 further kicks, the girls left the field 41-5 winners.
Given that it is her 1st season, Amy is growing into the Hookers slot and as usual had a steady game, Hannah in only her 2nd game since her return made one of the tries with a great jinking run through the centre and made a couple of try saving tackles.
It was probably not one of the girls best performances this season, but again they ground out a deserved victory.

Tries: Lucie(2) Alex(2) Jess(2) Meg
Cons: Maddy (3)

Fixtures

To give those long suffering parents advanced notice, the remaining fixtures are detailed below.

U18's

17th Feb Paviours (away)
24th Feb Nat Cup 1
2nd March Gravesend (Home)
9th March Regional Training
16th March Regional Match
21st March EASTER TOUR TO BOGGLE HOLE
30th March Nat Cup 2
6th April Aylesford Bulls (Home)
13th April Nat Cup Final
20th April Free Fixture
27th April Regional Training
4th May Worthing Festival
12th May Regional Festival


U15's
17th Feb Reading (away)
24th Feb Nat Cup 1
2nd March Swaffham (away)
9th March Regional Training
16th March Regional Match
21st March EASTER TOUR TO BOGGLE HOLE
30th March Nat Cup 2
6th April Aylesford Bulls/Swaffham (Home)
13th April Nat Cup Final
20th April Aylesford Bulls/Spalding (Home)
27th April Regional Training
4th May Worthing Festival
11th May Regional Festival

Herts 7's to be included when dates finalised.

Regional Rugby

Well done to all the Basford Girls who represented East Region in Yorkshire at the weekend.
It was a weekend of mixed fortunes for the two age groups with the U18's going down 28-5 and the U15's winning 25-5.

U18's

Nat McClarnon (Capt)
Sarah Carmen
Rachel French
Emily Scott
Cherelle Alphonse
Charlie Micallef

U15's
Jess Harris
Ellie Martin
Megan Robson
Alex Grant
Lucie Wood
Layla Pickering
Abbie Cook
Maddy Lockwood
Olivia Stembridge
Yasmin Pemberton

Congratulations to Abbie and Olivia who both scored tries on their Regional Debut.

Well done to all

National Cup

Due to an Administrative error our entry for the national cup was way laid.
However thanks to some reorganising by the RFUW competitions dept and the generosity of Camberley Rugby Club who have made additional pitches available we will now be taking part in the cup at U15 level.

We are pooled with London Irish, Welwyn and Reading, and a big thanks go to Peter at Welwyn and Dave at Reading for agreeing to our late entry into the Cup pool.

Pool games are to be played on the 24th Feb 08.
Further details will be posted after the regional weekend.

The U18's at present due to limited numbers due to injuries to both sides are currently in talks to merge with Welwyn for the Cup competition.
Again further details will be posted.

Phil