U14 Girls tame East Sussex Barbarians at Steel Cross

This match was the home re-match of the Crowborough & Heathfield under 14 Girls facing off against the might of the East Sussex Barbarians consisting of a mixture of girls from Hastings, Seaford & Uckfield. For those intrepid away supporters/parents who witnessed the first encounter at the sun drenched Seaford Recreation Ground, you’ll recall it was a fast paced, lively game between two well matched teams. That first result went the way of the home team which meant the Red and White hoops had something to prove this time around.

We weren’t graced with the same balmy temperatures for this fixture but the hallowed Steel Cross turf, which saw the first XV humble Canterbury II's not 24 hours previously, was a bit softer which I think both sets of girls appreciated.

The BaaBaas couldn’t make the full complement of 15 for their team so we gallantly chose to match their player numbers rather than play with the extra player. In the spirit of rugby, we felt this was the right thing to do. Not only to give the opposition a level playing field but to help the girls prove to themselves that if we did win, we did it fair and square and it was down to them and their rugby and not the extra player - and they did not disappoint!

To the action!

Crowfield took the field in fine fettle and strident spirit for the kick off. It was a good start from both teams with a strong midfield battle and possession changing hands a number of times with ruck after counter ruck and ball rip after ball rip. It looked like we were in for a tough contest.

BaaBaas continued to make metres towards the Crowfield try line but the red and white wall stood firm with some great defensive work from all. We managed to turn the ball over to our possession and in a flash, we were on the attack with some well structured phase play helped by some super fast distribution at the breakdown from Sophia Colley at scrum half.

Our forward pods were punching holes in the Baa Baa defence helped by Alana Kirkness-O’Boyle and Freya Hardys excellent ball carrying. These runs with subsequent support in the rucks, opened up their defensive line for a fantastically worked team try with Megan Wiseman’s pace adding the finishing touch by scoring under the posts for us.
Nellie Jupp stepped up to slot the conversation with aplomb. 7 - 0.

The game re-started and you could feel the energy oozing from the Heathborough team. The girls rucking, tackling and support play has improved 10 fold since their last outing and they had a force about them which had only seem slight glimpses off previously. Not to say they had it easy, the BaaBaas were resolute in their defence and didn’t make it easy for us. It took another bombarding set of carries from our forwards and deft handling from our backs to make metres. Again, we broke through their defensive line by spreading the ball wide through the backs for Nadia LaFlemming to dot down over the line after some excellent support play from Emily Buckwell.
This try was much further in the corner which made the conversation particularly tough so the score remained 12 - 0.

Tails were well and truly up now. Crowfield seemed in the mood to turn the screw with much of the same superb work in the breakdown and some massive tackles. Jessica Vos was making the calls and controlling the backs superbly well and the structure looked immense. Lauren Martin was leading the pack and the work rate of Lilly Manning and Freya Rogers in the rucks was phenomenal.

Our third try came from a breakdown where Lauren Martin picked the ball from the back of a ruck and went for it. Even though we always tell the girls to carry the ball in two hands, Lauren was off - ball tucked under her left arm looking like a fierce Anne Boleyn, handing people off with her right hand, to finish a lung busting, asthma-pump inducing run which finished with a try under the posts after beating about 4 or 5 defenders.
Nelly stepped up again to confidently convert this one. 19 - 0 at half time!

A quick chat a half time and we were set to go again. It was mostly based on do what you have already done this half!
It would be remiss of me to not show a nod of thanks to Isobel and Chloe who were injured for this game but were both pitch side lending hydration support at the breaks, and morale support throughout.

From here on in dear reader, my notes were a bit soggy and paper with a ball point didn’t quite cut the mustard in the damp conditions.
As a result of drizzle, the accounts of the second half, may be laced with a bit more artistic license combined with hazy recollection rather than the more truth based, journalistic account of the first half.

BaaBaas restarted the game with a great kick off straight into the safe pair of hands of Lauren which set up another metre gaining run.
The score had seemed to awaken something in the BaaBaa girls as they had reset at half time and were looking more combative at the breakdown and seemed to not only be winning their rucks but really challenging us on the counter rucks.

Whether we were over confident, or their resurgence was simply unexpected, they started really strongly in the second half and had not long notched on the scoreboard with a lovely breakthrough try which was chased down all the way by Freya Rogers. Excellent commitment Freya!
A missed conversation meant the score was slightly evened up at 19 - 5. Would this be a tale of two halves and a massive comeback?

Alas, any comeback for the BaaBaas was short lived as Crowfield hit back quickly and efficiently.
Again, more of the same attritional, well supported phase play from all the forwards and lovely hands from the back line.
From a line out on the far side of the pitch, the ball was moved through hands of the backs with the speed and agility of a gazelle in full flight across the Sahara, to the other wing., this is where Layla Lawson got close with a run in from the wing only to be held off by the staunch defence once more. After a few more phases we saw a hooker-centre combo of Lauren and Nelly pair up with a graceful to me, to you, to me set of offloads which saw another try for Lauren and the scales of the score tip back to 24 - 5.

In the last section of the game we saw an awesome couple of carries from Emily Buckwell. We thought she was definitely going to score in the corner only to be thwarted by a great, last ditch tackle. Emily has shown a real growth in her confidence over the past few games not just in her ball carrying but her defensive work as well. Another player who deserved a try and very nearly made it on three attempts was Freya Hardy. We all thought she was over in the first half but a pesky touch line foiled those plans. And on the other occasions of swatting away defenders like flies, she was always stopped just shy of the try line. Great running!

BaaBaas broke our defensive line only for the second time in the game and made another breakaway try which moved the score a bit more to their favour making it 24 - 10.

The defensive line up until that point had stayed strong like a red and white wall. The defensive work of the whole team was another point that impressed today with tackles from the usual machines like Nelly, Lauren and Jess who did their business as usual impressive work but with others who haven’t had the exposure to as many tackles really stepping up. There were great hits from both Layla’s, both Freya’s, Lilly, Megan and Alana but the Hit-Of-The-Day had to go to Lexie Cheek as we saw a BaaBaa on a marauding run suddenly chopped down to size and after the dust had cleared, we saw the small but powerful frame of Lexie emerge victorious!

Crowfield hung on for the last 8 or so minutes knowing if they kept things tight in defence, we would see the game out and notch our first league victory of the campaign. They didn’t just do that as they took up the mantle of “the best form of defence is attack” and went looking for more points.

Another strong carry with multiple hand offs from Lauren saw her close in on the opposing try line only to seemingly held up by three defenders who, as a collective, seemed to halt her. The opportunity for the offload had passed and it looked like the chance of a Hat-trick had slipped away, but there was a second surge with Nadia providing an extra shove to help carry Lauren, plus the three defenders, over the line to score our fifth try of the game.
The conversion attempt was a whisker away and as it happened was the last action of the game, making the final score a very impressive 29 - 10 the the combined team of Crowborough and Heathfield. A well deserved and well earnt win that the girls could rightfully celebrate.

There was talk of a few prizes before the game and those lucky recipients of some fruit pastilles were;

Loudest player - Megan Wiseman
Most Tackles - Jessica Vos
Most rucks - Nellie Jupp
Quickest of defensive line - Emily Buckwell
Best headgear / Hat-trick hero - Lauren Martin
Fast and accurate distribution - Sophia Colley

The East Sussex Barbarians voted Nellie Jupp our payer of the match for dogged defensive work with a ton of tackles, bossing the rucks and making immense attacking runs. Fully deserved.

Our coaches award for player of the match went to Alana mainly for her attacking runs. She was strong in her running and wasn’t phased at taking the ball into contact and made a load of metres. Strong in defence too today so well done Alana.

What we witnessed was a culmination of many aspects that the girls have trained hard at over the season. Everything seemed to click today and what we were lucky enough to witness a real step change in this team and their collective performance as a group. Super proud of every single one of them!

Onwards and upwards towards the next game!