Only one winner - Women’s rugby!!

Sunday was a day of firsts for all players involved. The first game of the season, the first league game for both teams and the very first game of rugby for a lot of the girls involved.

Crowborough lined up with an impressive number of 12 girls and superbly bolstered by 3 great girls from Heathfield RFC. Many thanks to Paul and the girls for their support. And special thanks to Lucas for the hydration support and Hayley for the photos!
Hove kicked off on a slightly breezy but fantastic looking pitch D (thanks to the Friday club) and Crowborough quickly scooped up the ball and set about attacking the Hove defence. There was no hint of first game of the season rustiness as “Crow-field” set about making slow but steady progress up the field. The possession game from the borough pack was on point and every single player was contributing beautifully. Hove were tackling bravely but couldn’t manage to get a finger on the ball let alone a hand.

It wasn’t long before this relentless pressure and possession paid off as Lauren Martin made a break with ball in hand and steamed towards the try line only to be stopped by a last-ditch tackle about 1 metre short. Little did it matter though as Daisy Howes was right on her shoulder with some fantastic support running was able to pick the ball up and dot down within a few minutes to get Crowborough’s first score on the board.
The support from Heathfield gave us a few options in the kicking department but it was our no.9 Chloe Bains who took and converted the kick. 7-0 in the first few minutes. What a start.

The next few minutes of the game seemed like a repeat of the first. Excellent possession from Crowborough and Heathfield and brave defence from Hove. The red and white pack were working their pods well and excellent distribution from our no.10 Isobel Kirby was piling the pressure on. The backline hands were spot on with Sophia Colley from Heathfield slotting in really well on the wing with some great runs and strong tackles.
The Hove defence was breached again by Lauren Martin’s aggressive running and although she was stopped just short of scoring a second time, one of our debutants, Alana Kirkness-O’Boyle was on hand with the support this time around to score her first ever try. Fantastic work from her. This time we had Nelly Jupp step up who expertly converted the kick. 14 – nil up. This was looking to be a good day for the combo of Crowborough and Heathfield.

Hove seemed to be buoyed by the rampant red and whites and came back strongly in the second quarter of the first half. This tested the defence. There was an outstanding captain’s performance from Jessica Vos putting in countless tackles. She was an absolute machine in defence backed up with some huge hits from Nelly, Chloe, Nadia, Daisy and Lily.

The game flowed really which was helped by James Crouch in the middle with some spot on refereeing. The Bourough/Field scrum was looking strong and dominated most if not all of the scrums but the Hove attack scored 4 unanswered tries in the remainder of the first half. Big shout out to Freya Rogers and Willow Mecham who were asked to play in the pack for the first time and they played fantastically even though they were playing in positions that were new to them.

So half time score was Crowfield 14 – Hove 20. With a few changes at half time we saw debuts for Megan Wiseman, Layla and Lexie Cheek who were all involved and did brilliantly for their first ever games.

Hove continued to pile the pressure on with a period of heavy scoring running around the defence and soring most of their tries in the corners which made it difficult for their kicker to add the extra points. They had discovered that they couldn’t compete with the ball on the ground so they had decided to turn most tackles into maul’s and were ripping the ball really well to create turnovers and then unleash their rapid backline.
Another debutant, Layla Cheek made a brave blindside run off another dominant scrum only to be clobbered into touch by 2 Hove defenders. Understandably shaken but undeterred she jumped back up like a seasoned champion and got back into the defensive line. Welcome to rugby Layla!

Megan broke through in the second half and was inches away from scoring on her debut only to just about lose control of the ball under lots of pressure from 3 Hove defenders. It would have been a TMO call in the pro game it was that close.
With the score at 14-40 Crowborough & Heathfields heads did not drop and they continued to bravely battle away and were rewarded with another Daisy Howes try right in the corner near the end of the third quarter. This try was even too much for the expert try converter Nelly Jupp to get close to. Marcus Smith would have struggled to be fair!

Forth quarter kick off and there were 24 tired and battered but determined young women out on the pitch. Hove went over again early on but couldn’t quite make the kick.
Crowborough still wouldn’t give up and finished the last quarter strongly with a literally lung busting 40 metre run from our hooker Lauren Martin shrugging off tackles and scoring under the posts. Luckily her sister was watching as Lauren had left her inhaler in the changing room!
Nelly Jupp expertly converted the kick and the game finished Crowbourough & Heathfield 26 – Hove 50.

The scoreline didn’t necessarily reflect the game but Hove were a similar mixture of player who had played a bit with a few brand newbies. It was a great game of rugby to watch from both teams especially as these girls are 13-14 years of age.
Player of the match votes by the opposition was Jessica Vos who was immense in defense.

Andy, Phil and Paul quickly and unanimously agreed that their player of the match went to Heathfield’s Nelly Jupp who carried the ball into contact brilliantly, kicked flawlessly and was throwing herself into the tackles like seasoned pro. She looked like a player who has played a lot of rugby but this was her very first game. Outstanding!

No matter the score we were immensely proud of the girls today and what a great platform to build from for this season and the future of girl’s rugby at the club.

Regardless of the result the real winner today was woman’s rugby!