U18 Girls Win Our "Pool of Death"

The girls’ cup season began at Beccehamians with a triple header pool match in what passed for our version of the pool of death. We were up against two strong sides – Esher & Chobham Swans, and West Kent Divas (WKD). We started by watching our opponents in the first match and WKD eventually prevailed so we took on EC Swans knowing they would be super keen to win.

The game was very tight early on with no score from either side for the majority of the first half until Boro opened their account with a trademark Jess Breach try from a break on the outside but this was soon cancelled out when EC Swans broke off a driving maul to score in the corner to make it 5-5 at half time.

Things improved in the second half as the girls began to get their passing game going. Another try from Jess converted by Maddy Buckland was followed by some really impressive work to keep the ball alive saw Grace Elsworth-Smith, Lucy Elliott and Ella Russell all scoring tries in the corner for Pulborough to run out 27-5 winners.

This made the game against WKD the decider and once again, the first half was extremely tight as both sides probed for openings. And as before, it was Pulborough who opened the scoring just before half time when the forwards made a good break and some quick recycling allowed Jess to score under the posts. Ellie Gisbourne added the extras to give the girls a 7-0 half time lead.

This was short lived as WKD broke away on the first play of the second half to level it all up once more. However, the girls were beginning to get the upper hand and a smart break down the blindside from a scrum saw Jess being put in the clear to put Boro back in front. Maddy added the conversion to make it 14-7.

As with the previous match, the girls were starting to move the ball with confidence and a flowing move through the backs ended with Issy Mayhew coming into the line to round off with a try in the corner. The girls were playing really well now and Charlotte Williams crashed over from a penalty close to the WKD line to complete a 24-12 win and see the girls top the pool.

This was a great effort from the whole squad and it was really pleasing to see how the new players gelled with the more experienced older girls to deliver a really strong performance and get the competitive part of the season off to a winning start.