Langholm Girls U15 side travelled to Stirling on Sunday to play in their fifth consecutive Brewin Dolphin final and after a hard fought game against Hillhead/Jordanhill they came out worthy winners, 24-14, to be crowned Scottish U15 Champions.

The girls started strongly taking the game to the opposition with some good forward play and enjoyed the best of the opening exchanges. They worked their way up to the Hill/Jill’s line, as their girls team is called, and only some stiff tackles kept them from scoring. However, they were playing a strong rucking game and the ball was recycled and fed wide for Lauren Meager to dive over at the corner to open the scoring after seven minutes, Megan Paisley was unlucky with the difficult touchline conversion.

Hillhead hit back almost immediately and scored a good try of their own as their strong running centre Helen Frater broke a tackle and ran well for a try under the posts which stand-off Melanie Grant converted to give them the lead.

This lapse in defence only served to galvanise the Langholm girls and raise their game. They mounted several attacks and through a strong forward oriented game they kept possession of the ball for long periods and played a fast, tight game which produced three more tries before the break. The first was a trademark try from the diminutive scrum half Rachel Law, who at times during the game appeared to be everywhere and fully deserved her player of the match award. From a penalty on half way she took a quick tap and ran 50 metres with the defence trailing in her wake to score a try which Paisley converted.

The second came from stand-off Charlotte Hope, who was playing a solid game with her half-back partner Law and was linking well with centre Nicole Beattie to release the fast backs when space appeared in the defence, Hope broke through two tackles and ran in wide out from the opposition 22 for an unconverted try. Then, when the Langholm girls halted a Hillhead attack on halfway, it was Hope who was on hand to break away down the wing to add the fourth just before the interval.

The forwards counter rucked and produced valuable turnover ball which was fed to Beattie who made the initial break before feeding Hope who ran hard for the corner, despite several defenders chasing her down, Paisley added the difficult touchline conversion right on half-time for a well-deserved 24-7 lead.

The second half was non-stop as Hillhead-Jordanhill threw everything into their game to try to get level. Melanie Grant tried hard to spark something for the Glasgow side but the Langholm side proved hard to break. After nine minutes of play from full-back Zoe Toner did claim their second try, converted by Grant.

Thereafter Hill/Jill’s were forced to defend as Langholm mounted wave after wave of attacks looking to stretch their lead. Chloe Horsburgh and Heather Reid were to the fore and made several strong runs with ball in hand and were supported at the breakdown by Shonagh Murray and Rachael Young.

Beattie was working hard in the backline and thought she had crossed for a try near the end but was unlucky to be adjudged to have knocked the ball on over the line. She was finding gaps in the defence and setting the strong running Paisley away and only strong H/J tackling stopped her breaking through.

The wingers saw little of the ball and were only called into action in defence, right winger Adele Wyllie made two excellent tackles to drive her opposite number into touch but the best tackle must have been the one made by Beattie which brought a gasp from the large crowd as she knocked the wind out their centre with a text book execution.

The girls fully deserved their victory as they must have had 80% of the game and played with such heart and commitment. After the game there were a lot of tears, both players and parents alike and their coach, club development officer Iain Park told the website “I am so very, very proud of this bunch of girls. They played hard for themselves and for each other. Their commitment could not be faulted and they are worthy Scottish Champions, we have worked really hard in training for this day. They were made to work hard for the win by a very good Hillhead/Jordanhill side who were great opposition and this was a great advert for girl’s rugby. I am very proud of everyone of them”