A sunny Sunday for mid-October, we were all set for our first home game of the new season. We were up against our Essex friends Rochford Hundred Ladies.
Warmed up by the weather and by Captain Chantell the team were ready to get going.
2pm KO and a very quick 10 minutes ensued with both sides playing strong rugby, the game ebbed and flowed with our opposition capitalising on their attacking advantage taking the first try of the game. Another 5 minutes of play and Rochford found a way through and went over the line for their second try and another conversion.
Darts demonstrated some strong defence but Rochford kept possession and made some great runs and scored against us once more.
Our women did not give up and after some great passages of play Jenna went over for our first try just before half time, Megan converted and the score going into half time was Darts 7 - Rochford 25.
Half Time pep talk by Chantell and Jenna saw the women run back out on to the pitch for the second half reinvigorated with the encouraging words ringing in their ears to “take it back to basics.”
It was a great watch to see these two sides battling it out, Rochford matched us for numbers after half time and the game went to 12 a side. Darts made some handling errors and gave Rochford another opportunity to run another try with extras.
Both teams deemed it a very physical game, played with spirit and determination. The Darts Women did us proud. Rochford messaged after the game to say how lovely it was to play a team that are as welcoming as we are - we take that as a win even though we lost on the day.
Final Score - Darts 7 Rochford 40
FOTM - Georgia O’Ione
BOTM - Holly O’Moore
Written by Dawn Stevens