Reports from National Cup Finals

Last weekend saw some terrific games of Rugby at all levels being played at Litchfield.

The Basford/Welwyn cup final against Worcester went right to the wire and the London Irish v Thornbury final at U15's was also a close run affair despite the final score.

Match reports below courtesy of Dave Marques @Welwyn and Les Simpson at London Irish

U18'S
Welwyn/Basford v Worcester


It was National Cup Final heartache for the Welwyn-Basford U18 girls' side on Sunday.
They narrowly lost out to Worcester after being five minutes from lifting the trophy.
The combined Welwyn-Basford team were leading 15-10 with just minutes left on the clock.

However, an exceptional converted Worcester try denied the girls glory.
it was a truly pulsating National Cup clash at Lichfield on Sunday.
Worcester roared into an early 5-0 lead and then went very close again two minutes later.
Welwyn-Basford fought back and their forwards drove upfield steadily until Worcester finally cracked.

Skipper Natalie McClarnon scored to make it 5-5.
Back came Worcester for 10-5 and that was how it stayed until half-time.

The Welwyn-Basford coaches encouraged the girls for a second half display that was exceptional.
The tide was all flowing one way and another great forward drive saw Hannah Marques, playing the game of her life, score in the corner, making it 10-10.

Still the maroon hoops kept coming and Worcester were pinned in their own half for long periods.
Another great bout of forward pressure saw Springbok Frankie Dawson race clear to give the Herts and Essex team a crucial 15-10 lead with 15 minutes to play.

Worcester raised their game but the Welwyn defence held out until five minutes to go.

Worcester's exceptional centre then scored the match-winning try and snatched away the cup that was so tantalisingly close to the maroon hoops' grasp.

It was a try worthy of winning any match - a 50-yard run past several missed tackles and put down under the posts.

An easy conversion made the score 17-15.

The final whistle blew and the dream was over but in the years to come all the Welwyn-Basford players can look at their medal and remember with pride the match they took part in.

Team manager Dave Marques knew it was a case of so near, yet so far.

He said: "You know, for a while there I thought we'd actually done it.

"I think had we been playing any other team we would have, but Worcester have such a classy back division, you know one slip and they'll make you pay.

"That try was beautiful to watch though, as well as being painful."

Coach Clive Cramphorn said: "There's still plenty to sort out in the next few weeks, but it was a real pleasure to be involved in a game like that.

"The true spirit of rugby shone through like a beacon and after the week we've just had, that was a real boost.
Congratulations also go to the Basford management and coaching staff, Paula Bates, Gavin Scott and Tony McClarnon for their part getting the girls to the final.


U15's
London Irish v Thornbury

London Irish Girls Lift The Cup

RFUW U15 Girls National Cup Final at Lichfield RFC, 13th April 2008

London Irish 29 – Thornbury 7


In a week that saw London Irish Girls secure the Surrey League title, the girls travelled to Lichfield, Staffordshire, to contest the final of the RFUW National Cup against the Gloucestershire side Thornbury, the defending champions.

Research indicated that Thornbury had a very big, well-drilled pack and played exclusively to that strength. Preparation for the match was to practice quick ball away from the forwards and avoid a mauling game. This approach was borne out when, during their warm up for the game, the Thornbury backs always brought the ball back inside. The girls went into the game confident in their tactics.

The starting line-up:
Morgan Simpson (C)
Nancy Tarrant
Sereena Peppard
Emma Pinchin
Niquita Patel Subs: Nicolle Roberts
Colette Bloome Rachel Still
Serena Carter Gemma Jablonska
Harriet Connor
Laura Schultze
Alex Matthews
Alice Flynn
Rochelle Smith
Robyn Harwood-Lewis

Thornbury kicked off and London Irish attacked up the left flank through Alice Flynn. When she was eventually brought down, the pack were immediately in support and secured the ball quickly. The ball went along the line to the right wing Laura Schulze who was clear to score near the corner. Harriet Connor kicked a difficult conversion to take Irish 7 points ahead.

The score settled the LI nerves but also stirred Thornbury into action. The following 10 minutes saw the game ebb and flow between the teams. London Irish almost scored a second try but lost the ball crossing the line and Thornbury put together a concerted forward attack on the Irish line only to be thwarted by Laura Schultze, who managed to get under the ball to stop them grounding it.

Slowly the London Irish pack began to dictate the forward exchanges by arriving in numbers and recycling the ball quickly, avoiding a toe-to-toe battle.

With half time approaching, Nancy Tarrant took a quick lineout throw inside the Thornbury 22, which was taken at the front by Morgan Simpson, who drove a few yards before going to ground. The supporting forwards secured the ball, which was sent along the threes. Alex Matthews and Alice Flynn executed a well-rehearsed inside dummy, which opened up the Thornbury defence for Alex to score under the posts. Harriet again converted taking Irish into a 14-point half time lead.

The second half continued in the same way with London Irish dictating the game but excellent Thornbury tackling keeping them at bay.

The pressure eventually told when Alex Matthews stripped the ball in a tackle 5m from the Thornbury line before popping it to Sereena Peppard who went over to score in the corner. This time the try was unconverted, 19 – 0.

Thornbury again came back strongly and put Irish under pressure before putting in a box kick, which caught the LI defence napping. A fortunate bounce in goal saw Thornbury get to it first to make their first score. A good conversion brought the score to 19 – 7.

LI went on the offensive and pinned Thornbury in their own half for several minutes before they were awarded a penalty on the 22 for handling on the ground. Harriet elected to kick and scored a simple 3 points.

Thornbury heads went down and they didn’t threaten the Irish defences again.

The final score came from a box kick by Harriet, which was gathered by Alex. Alex drew a tackle before releasing the ball to Laura on the right wing. Laura cut inside, between two defenders to score. Harriet converted to bring the score to 29 – 7.

A few minutes later the referee brought the game to a close.

An awesome game by the pack, some magnificent running and tackling by the backs and a dominant team performance overall gave the London Irish U15 Girls a well-deserved victory.

WELL DONE TO ALL FOUR TEAMS FOR WHAT WAS A GREAT DAYS RUGBY.

A big congratulations to all the basford girls who this season have done themselves, the club,county and regional sides proud.

Basford/Welwyn v Worcester National Cup Final

Thanks to everyone who travelled to Lichfield in support of our U18's on Sunday.

You all had a great game ladies, and despite losing by the narrow margin of 2 points right at the final whistle I am really proud of your achievement.

ESSEX RFUW AGM

The Essex RFUW annual general meeting will be held at Harlow Rugby Club on Tuesday 15th April 2008 at 7pm.

Welwyn/Basford Reach National Cup Final

The triumphant Welwyn-Basford team after their success in Wimborne

Welwyn Warriors & Basford joined forces this season to contest the RFUW Junior National Cup, and the combined talents of the Girls from Essex and Herts won last Sunday's Southern final at Wimborne in Dorset to secure a place in the final at Litchfield on the 13eh April 08.

Welwyn-Basford emerged triumphant from a tough pool containing the hosts plus Solent Sirens and will now face Worcester in the national showpiece.
The regional second phase was a round-robin style competition and such was the quality of the sides involved that the biggest winning margin of the afternoon was just five points.

Wimborne were first up against Solent Sirens and although being behind for most of the match, a late score saw them edge out the Sirens 7-3.

Welwyn-Basford then took on the Sirens and a second-half try by Rachel French clinched a 5-0 win.

This was particularly harsh on the Sirens, who had dominated against Wimborne and made Welwyn-Basford struggle for the entire match.

The opening two results set up the final pool game between Wimborne and Welwyn-Basford as a winner-takes-all affair.

Two early penalties saw the Dorset girls lead 6-0 for most of the first half.

But a late Emily Scott try saw Welwyn-Basford go in 6-5 behind at half-time.

The second half saw Welwyn-Basford pushing for the winning score but Wimborne kept the door firmly shut until two minutes from time.

Natalie McClaron then crashed through for the vital score to make it 10-6 to the visitors.

Worcester won the other U18 pool ahead of Leodias and Burfield.


Thornbury will contest the U15 final against London Irish.

Well done and good luck to all four teams and heres looking forward to a great day of rugby at Litchfield.

Girls Section Summer Rugby Course – Swaffham RUFC

The following was forwarded from Swaffham and may be of interest to our girls.

The course is run by Leicester Tigers and this is the 7th year Swaffham RUFC have played host to the course which is amongst the largest event of this type in the UK. However this is the first year where Tigers have opened the youth age group week to both the girls age groups (Under 15 & Under 18).

It will be run exactly as the boys course will be where players are coached and assessed on all aspects of the game by Tigers own coaching staff.

Players will have up to 5 hours of rugby activity on a daily basis together with receiving course items including a training t-shirt, rugby ball and drink bottle.

Hot meals and drinks are provided daily.

At the end of the week the players will receive certificates against their achievements on an 8 star assessment.

Details of the course can be found at http://www.tigers.co.uk/34_17.php or alternatively please contact Ian Milligan at Swaffham RUFC on 07917 327389 or iandmilligan@btinternet.com


Should you want to attend the course but have issues on travelling or logistics please contact Ian as the club may be able to assist.

End of Season Dinner

Hi All

If you haven't already done so please see me about your tickets for the Dinner/Disco at the Oysterfleet Hotel. I need £15 deposit by Sunday please along with your choice of menu.

Don't forget if you want to stay over, you need to book your room at the hotel direct.

Paula

Yorkshire RFUW

Girls

Please see below the message from Mandy "Eh up North tha knows"

Well done to all those girls who took part last weekend, it were a reet grand day and every one at our end had a great weekend, (even Lucie who now holds the world record for shower diving)
Phil

Hi Phil,
What a day...what fun!!
I truly hope you had a great (if not cold!!) weekend. It was lovely to meet old friends...it was great for the U18's on both sides to have one last blast together before they become fully fledged open age players. Our U15's haven't experienced anything like this and they had a ball as did their parents....long may this friendship between the White Roses and the Stilletoes of the South continue..
I need your tournament date for next season ASAP...I've been given the green light to proceed with both age groups from Vicki & Yorkshire CB (but I need to talk to the other Northern Counties)...

How's the shower victim?....we had one broken collar bone....


Mandy
x



Day 2 of the invasion installment coming (1+1)a big page near you soon!!!!