Taken at face value, this looks like a heavy defeat for the girls but there were many improvements compared to their match two weeks ago against this tough, skilful and well drilled side.

Pulborough started the first quarter with what should be their strongest line up, but despite an afternoon kick off, the girls had not woken up. Our tackling was much improved, but Sutton & Epsom do not miss tackles either. They dominated the breakdown and were able to turn Boro over as they chose, running in six tries by creating space and overlaps.

The introduction of some of the newer players and a half time pep talk meant we started the second quarter with a much more positive mindset and started contesting the ball. Maddie Gee scored first after we passed the ball out wide, and Sutton had to start playing. They scored two individual tries despite some awesome tackling by Pebbles on Sutton’s biggest forwards. Boro looked threatening but too often the girls ran into trouble without looking for their support, or to offload, and so we continued to get turned over. Sutton ran in another try. We finished the quarter with a nicely worked try from Holly after Emily made some space down the blind side in a planned move from a penalty.

The third quarter saw a similar pattern, solid tackling by Boro in the first phase, Sutton using their experience and strength to play some phases and create space for their faster runners to score four tries. Pebbles scored a great individual try in response with some mazy running.

In the final quarter both teams were starting to tire, and there was a lot of mauling. Maddie and Emily both showed their strength getting stuck in against the bigger Sutton girls. When Boro moved the ball wide they looked dangerous and Freya was unlucky not to score on the left wing. Again, Sutton scored four times, but it would have been more if not for some good cover tackles by Lydia.

After the match, Sutton’s coach commented on how much he felt all the Boro girls had improved, particularly in the tackle – and how much harder his girls had to work. We are due for another friendly in the Spring, and if Boro can think about moving the ball wide, and looking to offload before getting hit, then there is the potential for them to score many more tries by using their pace and agility.

Team: Holly (1), Rosie, Maddie (1), Emily, Nairy, Lydia, Lois, Cherry, Pebbles (1), Honey, Freya, Abbie
Match report by Andy Tedd