U18 GIRLS: CREWE & NANTWITCH (NATIONAL CUP)

The first national cup game for the U18 Tamworth girls was an amazing one; with a win secured on Sunday 5th November away at Crewe and Nantwich’s home ground. The final score was 38-17 in favour of Tamworth meaning that as well as a win, a bonus point was scored.

Crewe and Nantwich provided a tricky opposition and for the first five minutes, the game was even match. However, a great team try scored through Becky was the thing needed to pull ahead, involving excellent support lines and offloads from Lucie, Poppy and Grace. This was then converted by Lilly. It was just over ten minutes later when Tamworth were next on the oppositions try line. Forward ball was a consistent theme and was successful due to a pick and go from Ellie that had her diving over the line and through defenders. And the next try was not far behind, with a restart kick and a couple of phases of play that brought Tamworth to a ruck at half way from which Grace picked the ball and ran down the wing, stepping through defenders to score a try under the posts. Lilly again successfully converted. Once again, the ball was being passed through Tamworth hands and was given to Poppy who used brilliant footwork to weave through and hand off defenders to put the ball under the posts. The try was again converted by Lilly. However it was Crewe and Nantwich who scored the last try of the half, pulling Tamworth’s defence in and using the width to score on the wing. This meant that the halftime score was 26-5.

In the second half, Tamworth matched Crewe and Nantwich’s try with one of their own. Lilly battled through defenders, handing them off, before pulling away and running the rest of the half of the pitch. It was her first try for Tamworth, and she even converted the try. Although, some innovative thinking allowed for a Crewe and Nantwich player to intercept a Tamworth pass and score from it, gaining them a conversion. But to counteract the creeping score, Tamworth dug deeper and kept making ground up the pitch. After some phases of play, Lucie stormed through defenders to score Tamworth’s sixth try of the match. Unfortunately it wouldn’t be the last one as the opposition managed one more try to bring the game to a close at 17-38.

The dames of the game were Lilly for the backs due to her incredible attacking lines and defensive efforts as well as stepping up to kick the conversions, as well as Ella for the forwards. Despite being a new addition to the team, Ella has shown great determination in her carries as well as defence. In addition to this, Poppy was named the opposition’s player of the match due to her being a visible threat in both attack and defence.

Match report by: Grace Jay