Monday, October 20, 2008

Sunday 25th October 08

League Fixture

This weekend we are away to Folkestone at both U15 &U18 level. Paula has sent out emails to everyone asking for confirmation of availability and Rochford are kindly providing a coach for all players and staff to travel to the match.
Please let Paula know urgently whether you are available and also which of the pick up points you will be at to get on the coach.

There are limited spaces available for any parents who wish to travel on the coach, cost per person is £10.
Please let Paula know asap if you require places on the coach.

The pick up points and times will be as follows:

9.00 am The Spa, Hockley
9.20 am Tarpots, Benfleet - bus lay-by
9.45 am Haywain/FiveBells lay-by (where tour coach picked us up)
10.10 am Thurrock Services

U18's Sunday 19th October

Many of the Basford girls turned out for the county side last Sunday against Kent and Sussex.

First up was Essex v Kent which was an entertaining game with both sides determined not to give an inch.
The forwards found themselves up against a bigger pack which at the scrum put considerable pressure on the Essex girls, who led from the front by captain MCB, gave everything to contain them.
The backs ran constantly at the Kent defence but some unforced handling errors kept giving the advantage back to the Kent girls.
Mid way through the first half Kent applied pressure close to the Essex line and their reward was a well taken try to give them a 5-0 lead.
The Essex girls came straight back at them and some excellent tackling from Jen, Fi, Sophie & Frances halted Kent in their tracks.
Turning round in the 2nd half the Kent girls came at Essex strongly and again some excellent defence by the forwards kept them at bay and with the backs looking to break quickly and punish Kent it was turning into a very good game of rugby.
Unfortunately midway through the 2nd half the Kent girls proved too strong and following some tough tackling around the Essex line, went over for their 2nd try which was duly converted.
Final score Kent 12-Essex 0

In the 2nd game Essex came up against a Sussex team that had also been beaten by Kent so both teams were playing for the runners up position.
The Essex girls from the off, piled pressure on Sussex and with the forwards having the upper hand on their opponents, some quick ball of the back of the rucks gave the backs chance to do what they do best and run at the opposition defence with Jess and Anna making some excellent ground.
The Essex girls took advantage of some great handling in the centre by India and Tash allowing Emily to skip clear and make a break to go over to make it 5-0 which she duly converted, 7-0.
Turning round at the break the girls continued to put pressure on their Sussex counterparts and some excellent form from Siobhan, Megan, Sam & MCB kept Sussex at bay and allowed our backs to again put pressure on the Sussex try line. Some deft handling allowed India to jink through and go over to make it 12-0 and with Emily putting the conversion away the girls had a comfortable 14-0 lead going into the final minutes.
Final score Essex 14 Sussex 0

Well done to all those girls who played this weekend.

U18's Sarah MCB, Sam, Jemma, Megs, Frank, Fi, Frank, Siobhan, Jen, Emily, India Tash, Sophie, Anna, Kezia, Jess
U15's Lucy, Maddy. Layla. Abbie, Abi, Amy, Bron, Katie, Hannah, Olivia, Yasmin, Claire

Congrats to Emily and Jess who were named Player and runner up of the tournament respectively at U18 level and Claire who was named runner up at U15 level.

Thanks Also to Kent for organising a terrific days rugby.

U15's 19th October 2008

In the U15's the girls were 1st up against a strong Kent side containing many girls who they had faced 2 weeks earlier in the league game against Ayleford.
From Kick off both sides were guilty of handling errors which slowed the game down a little, but once they found their rhythm the Essex girls started to put Kent under pressure and much of the play in the first half was spent inthe Kent half of the pitch.
As the game progressed Kent started to force their way back into the game and went over for a well deserved try to give them a 5-0 lead.
However within a couple of minutes the Essex girls had leveled the score with a well worked try by Abi Graham. 5-5
throughout the game there was some excelent tackling by the Essex girls and in particular Lucy and Maddy.
In her first game back after a serious skiing accident Hannah made some terrific breaks along side Yasmin and Claire.
Result of game 1 Kent 5 Essex 5

The girls went into their 2nd game against Sussex full of confidence following their performance against Kent.
From the off they were pressuring the Sussex team however a lapse in concentration after 4 minutes gave the Sussex girls the 1st try of the match which went unconverted to 5-0.
This seemed to spur the Essex girls on and a terrific drive late in the half resulted in an Essex effort being held up on the line, from the resulting play Lucy crashed over at the 2nd attempt to level the scores 5-5
Again the Essex girls were making their presence known with some telling tackles from Olivia, claire, Amy and Lucy with Hannah, Abi, Abbie and Hannah making continual runs at the Sussex defence.
However with 5 minutes to go Sussex escaped the Essex grasp and went over for their 2nd try 10-5.
Final Result Essex 5 Sussex 10

Well done to all those Basford girls and also thank you to Graham who kindly lent Essex a couple of his players from Aylesford to bolster our depleted squad.

Match report courtesy of Trevor (Jocks Dad)