U18 Girls March On to National Semis

The girls travelled to Charlton Park for the rearranged South East Area Cup Final against Aylesford. This was a side who we had shared the honours with in two tight friendlies earlier in the season so the expectation was for a very tight game.

On a lovely playing surface in bright, sunny conditions, the match kicked off and early in the first half it was first blood to Pulborough as Katya Motuel broke clear to score under the posts. Lauren Fisher added the conversion to put the girls 7-0 to the good. Immediately from the restart the girls broke away again and a perfectly timed offload put Ellie Gisbourne clear to score close in and Lauren added the extras to double the girls’ lead. The match was still close and the girls were having to put in some excellent aggressive defence against the ever dangerous Aylesford forwards to maintain their lead. One such passage of play forced Aylesford to touch down in goal and from the resulting 5m scrum, Emily Robinson powered over despite the best efforts of the Kent girls and Lauren then made it 21-0.

The girls were moving the ball with confidence as the backs really clicked which ably supported the sterling work the pack were putting in and allowed the girls to play on the front foot for a lot of the time. A fine move put Bluebell Nicholls in some space on the wing and she showed the necessary pace to beat the full back and run round near the posts for the girls’ fourth try. Lauren followed that with their fourth conversion, 28-0.

Aylesford continued to battle hard and as the half drew to a close, they had a period of sustained pressure near the Boro line. The girls’ defence was excellent but eventually they had to give best as Aylesford scored in the corner to make the half time score 28-5.

The backs were now beginning to revel in the chance to run the ball and early in the second half a slick passing move put Grace Elsworth-Smith away and she out-gassed the defence to score in the corner. Lauren added a magnificent kick to make it 35-5 and perhaps allow the thought that today might just be our day.

More great hands allowed Bluebell to get her second try and then Izzy Mayhew to round off another nice move and Boro were really on top. Bluebell then completed her hat-trick as the girls created an overlap on the outside to bring up 50 points.

An attacking scrum gave the platform for a pick and go from the base and Sarah Cornforth showed great feet the beat the defence and score under the posts. Lauren added her sixth conversion to make it 57-5. At the death, Aylesford lost a player to the bin for a high tackle and from the resulting penalty, Lauren broke free to add a try and yet another conversion to her personal tally. 64-5 the final score.

This was an excellent team performance from all the girls who thoroughly deserved their win. The score was harsh on Aylesford who stuck to their task throughout and played in an excellent spirit and never stopped asking questions of the Boro defence. But it is Pulborough who move on to the Semis at Andover in two weeks’ time.