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Sun 01 Oct 2023
Medway
U14s Girls
19
44
New look Darts U14 girls have their first run out.
Toby Hambridge3 Oct 2023 - 12:29
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Darts squad show great potential for the coming season.
The newly formed U14’s, with only a couple of weeks training under their belts, travelled to Medway on Sunday for the first fixture of the season. After a quick warm up and some last minute preparations it was time for Darts to kick off. Strong defence from the Darts forwards kept Medway at bay for some time, but they started to drive Darts back into their own half. After an eternity they approached the Darts 22 but our defence would not fold and after 5 mins or so we managed to force an error and steal the ball. Finally, with ball in hand, we could show them what we could do and straight away caused chaos with power and speed leading to Maia, showing U14’s experience, breaking away with ease to open our account with a try to the right of the posts.
From the kick off Medway continued to cause trouble with their counter rucks and managed to turn over on a couple of occasions. This wasn’t allowing our scrum-half, Aoife, to get her hands on the ball causing the forwards coaches to lose their voices/heads on the sidelines. Despite these issues another period of possession saw some brilliant back play and elusive runs from Chloe V, Amelia D and finally Issy R who chalked up our second try again to the right of the posts. All the backs showed their ability to sidestep at ease and brush away the arms of the despairing defence. Medway knew they were in for a hard afternoon but they fought back to score a try by running across the pitch and loop around the darts defence. Some brave defence from Kasey and Tiff just couldn’t keep them out. Perhaps the whole team switched off for a bit thinking this would be a walk in the Medway park!
First Q score 7-10
A flurry of changes saw all 5 subs take the field and they didn’t drop the pressure. Holly, Sophie and Anna were causing the opposition trouble with their strong runs into the Medway forwards in possession, while out of it, Molly, Izzy P and Ife were crunching the tackles. The new wingers, Joanie and Lillie, were coming to grips with new positions and how to get involved in the play but managed to get their hands on the ball on a couple of occasions. Our rucking still wasn’t ticking which meant the backs were taking the ball on the back foot, however, despite this we managed to drive up field with some brilliant offloading, and the ball eventually went wide to our winger Lillie who showed her pace to sprint for the corner and touch down before the defence could catch her.
Medway kicked off again and back came Darts with some great runs from Leia and Evie. All the forwards were now starting to play at the level they know they can. No matter who received the ball they managed to make ground and it looked like the defensive work was too much for the opposition. A good platform from the forwards saw the ball moved out to the backs and it was time for Chloe V to drive her way through the defence to dot the ball down under the posts. It was clear to see Darts were now playing at their best.
HT score 7-20
The 2nd half kicked off and again Darts saw a long period of pressure from Medway. Some great tackles from Lucy and Kasey kept them at bay for a while but they again found the ability to waltz around the outside of our backs to score under the posts. Work on the training ground will fix this so no major concerns there.
Normal service was resumed and again some strong runs from Amelia J, Evie and Holly led to Amelia J scything through the defence at speed and dotting down under the posts. Play started to turn a bit fragmented with forwards wanting a piece of the action and blocking the path for the ball to be played out to the backs, however, they didn’t waste the possession they had and Ife showed her speed and power to drive straight through 3 or 4 players to touch down at the base of the posts. Issy R converted this one to send the sidelines crazy.
Aoife was distributing the ball well and the rucks had now been sorted meaning we had a platform for continuous phase play which allowed Amelia D to show here footwork & running skills and had a superb game playing at 10 & 13 although not at the same time!
Third Q score 14-30
Time for 1 last push and everyone seemed to be giving it their all. Kick off saw Leia take the ball with ease and run it back into contact putting Darts onto the front foot. Again, the forwards were everywhere and the backs were being starved of the ball which saw the game get quite messy at times, however, another strong run from Amelia J saw her score our next try to the right of the posts.
Medway then rallied around for their last push which resulted in them pinning Darts back on their own try line. A penalty was awarded and Darts switched off. The only one who didn’t was the Medway player who had the ball in hand, took a quick tap and dashed over the line. One for the coaches to work on as some of the players were still unsure of what to do in that situation so later on in the season we should not be giving those easy tries away. But credit to Medway for their heads up rugby.
From the restart Medway decided to kick over the top and it was a good one too, however, they didn’t see, Tiff at the back who controlled the ball with her foot and collected the bounce up on the move to drive it straight back to the opposition. Must have learnt that from last years coaches!
From this play we managed to get the ball to Amelia J who was having a superb running game who dotted down for what would be the last try of the match.
Darts did manage to show exceeding strength in the scrums, even though it was the first time some of them had ever pushed. The game came to a close when they pushed Medway back from their own scrum with the ball flying out the back. Elisse playing well at scrum half managed to drive the opposition scrum half backwards and from this the Darts forward managed to turn the ball over. Excellent all round play showing the forwards dominance.
Plenty of positives from this game. Some great individual performances and everyone could have been chosen for Player of the Match, however, still lots to work on as we look forward to the rest of the season.
Excellent support on the sidelines from the Darts faithful so thank you to everyone who came along as the girls did us all proud.
Final score Medway 19-44 Dartfordians
Player of the Match – Holly
Back of the Match – Elisse
Forward of the Match – Amelia J
From the kick off Medway continued to cause trouble with their counter rucks and managed to turn over on a couple of occasions. This wasn’t allowing our scrum-half, Aoife, to get her hands on the ball causing the forwards coaches to lose their voices/heads on the sidelines. Despite these issues another period of possession saw some brilliant back play and elusive runs from Chloe V, Amelia D and finally Issy R who chalked up our second try again to the right of the posts. All the backs showed their ability to sidestep at ease and brush away the arms of the despairing defence. Medway knew they were in for a hard afternoon but they fought back to score a try by running across the pitch and loop around the darts defence. Some brave defence from Kasey and Tiff just couldn’t keep them out. Perhaps the whole team switched off for a bit thinking this would be a walk in the Medway park!
First Q score 7-10
A flurry of changes saw all 5 subs take the field and they didn’t drop the pressure. Holly, Sophie and Anna were causing the opposition trouble with their strong runs into the Medway forwards in possession, while out of it, Molly, Izzy P and Ife were crunching the tackles. The new wingers, Joanie and Lillie, were coming to grips with new positions and how to get involved in the play but managed to get their hands on the ball on a couple of occasions. Our rucking still wasn’t ticking which meant the backs were taking the ball on the back foot, however, despite this we managed to drive up field with some brilliant offloading, and the ball eventually went wide to our winger Lillie who showed her pace to sprint for the corner and touch down before the defence could catch her.
Medway kicked off again and back came Darts with some great runs from Leia and Evie. All the forwards were now starting to play at the level they know they can. No matter who received the ball they managed to make ground and it looked like the defensive work was too much for the opposition. A good platform from the forwards saw the ball moved out to the backs and it was time for Chloe V to drive her way through the defence to dot the ball down under the posts. It was clear to see Darts were now playing at their best.
HT score 7-20
The 2nd half kicked off and again Darts saw a long period of pressure from Medway. Some great tackles from Lucy and Kasey kept them at bay for a while but they again found the ability to waltz around the outside of our backs to score under the posts. Work on the training ground will fix this so no major concerns there.
Normal service was resumed and again some strong runs from Amelia J, Evie and Holly led to Amelia J scything through the defence at speed and dotting down under the posts. Play started to turn a bit fragmented with forwards wanting a piece of the action and blocking the path for the ball to be played out to the backs, however, they didn’t waste the possession they had and Ife showed her speed and power to drive straight through 3 or 4 players to touch down at the base of the posts. Issy R converted this one to send the sidelines crazy.
Aoife was distributing the ball well and the rucks had now been sorted meaning we had a platform for continuous phase play which allowed Amelia D to show here footwork & running skills and had a superb game playing at 10 & 13 although not at the same time!
Third Q score 14-30
Time for 1 last push and everyone seemed to be giving it their all. Kick off saw Leia take the ball with ease and run it back into contact putting Darts onto the front foot. Again, the forwards were everywhere and the backs were being starved of the ball which saw the game get quite messy at times, however, another strong run from Amelia J saw her score our next try to the right of the posts.
Medway then rallied around for their last push which resulted in them pinning Darts back on their own try line. A penalty was awarded and Darts switched off. The only one who didn’t was the Medway player who had the ball in hand, took a quick tap and dashed over the line. One for the coaches to work on as some of the players were still unsure of what to do in that situation so later on in the season we should not be giving those easy tries away. But credit to Medway for their heads up rugby.
From the restart Medway decided to kick over the top and it was a good one too, however, they didn’t see, Tiff at the back who controlled the ball with her foot and collected the bounce up on the move to drive it straight back to the opposition. Must have learnt that from last years coaches!
From this play we managed to get the ball to Amelia J who was having a superb running game who dotted down for what would be the last try of the match.
Darts did manage to show exceeding strength in the scrums, even though it was the first time some of them had ever pushed. The game came to a close when they pushed Medway back from their own scrum with the ball flying out the back. Elisse playing well at scrum half managed to drive the opposition scrum half backwards and from this the Darts forward managed to turn the ball over. Excellent all round play showing the forwards dominance.
Plenty of positives from this game. Some great individual performances and everyone could have been chosen for Player of the Match, however, still lots to work on as we look forward to the rest of the season.
Excellent support on the sidelines from the Darts faithful so thank you to everyone who came along as the girls did us all proud.
Final score Medway 19-44 Dartfordians
Player of the Match – Holly
Back of the Match – Elisse
Forward of the Match – Amelia J
Further reading