U15 Girls progress to area final of National Cup

Owing to waterlogged pitches at Welwyn, Hertford RFC had offered to host the game which was greatly appreciated by both teams.

Despite having won the previous friendly fixture 75-0 Welwyn were not going to take anything for granted having seen previous high scoring advantages diminish in return fixtures. They took the sensible decision to play into the wind in the first half and also receive from the kick-off. Having secured the ball they started to work through some forward pod moves. It was obvious that it was not going to be an easy fixture as Medway were clearly well drilled and started defending well. After a few phases of play the ball was turned over by Medway with Welwyn having to defend. Using good line speed Welwyn were able to put pressure on the Medway back line which was not as confident as the forwards when in possession.

The first few minutes were proving to be a bit scrappy with both teams making a series of handling errors. After 5 minutes of play Welwyn were able to build pressure through a combination of forwards and backs moves which was reward by a try for Sophia Botterman out near the 5m line. A quick team talk followed with the Welwyn coaches pointing out Medway had worked out their pod play and therefore they needed to exploit the space.

Despite the advice the pattern of play continued with both teams suffering from further handling errors mainly in the back line forcing many scrums. Welwyn’s scrum was working well with the scrum always going forward and a number of balls won against the head. This helped Welwyn to get quicker ball into the back line and after 15 minutes Welwyn scored a lovely try with the ball going through all the back line to the winger, Grace Webster to score.

Medway were not beaten and then put together a great passage of play which saw a wonderful break down the blind side from a scrum. It looked as though they were in for their first try only for Millie Hare to make the try saving tackle 7m from the try line. Welwyn returned fire with Maggie Bristow touching the ball down over the line, however the ref deemed the ball held up.

Welwyn kept persevering with the forward pod play and despite some quality defending by Medway, the relentless battering paid off with Katie Drage scoring the final try of the half. Half time 15-0 to Welwyn.

In the second half Welwyn were able to take advantage of the wind being behind them. Following a penalty to Welwyn and a long kick to touch, it was time for Welwyn to exploit the space. The ball was moved quickly from the lineout, through the back line with Emily Hughes comfortably running in the opening try of the half. From then on Welwyn were able to keep Medway contained within their own half and it was clear they had the game won.

With the rust blown off from previous weeks, this seemed to help open up play. With play recommencing there was soon a well worked forwards try for Natalie Randall. This was followed by the try of the match. The forwards had been attacking from a few metres out and 10 metres in from touch which set up a blind side break for Jess Walker. However she was held up over the line. From the resulting scrum the ball was passed down the line, Emily Hughes crossed the line but rather than score her second try of the day she chose to pass the ball out once more to Millie Hare out wide to score.

With only a few minutes remaining Welwyn were not done with Livi-Grace Hunt making a lovely jinking run through the defense to score the final try. Ruby Chesterman-Smith got the first conversion of the game giving a final score of Welwyn 37 – Medway 0.
Great credit to Medway who showed great progress since the last fixture. After the game the usual sing-along was held in the clubhouse where Katie Drage was awarded player of the match by Medway. The result sees Welwyn through to the final eight teams in the competition with the next game against Horsham on 15th March.