U13's Girls lose despite their sterling efforts

Sunday saw the U13 girls cross the bridge into Essex to take on clustered Thurrock/Rochford U13s.

Despite missing a number of our regular players, reinforcements arrived in the shape of Lilly, Shaleigh, Teagan and Lyla all making their debuts for Darts and made great contributions.

The game got off to a fast start with the home team scoring two quick tries in the corner. However our girls kicked into a different gear and put in some strong runs in the shape of Layla, Lucy and Teagan. Thanks to some incredible defensive work, excellent tackling, and slick hands, the first half ended with tries for Darts by Lily and Katie scoring in her first game as scrum half. The score should have been higher but two tries from Darts were disallowed. The half ended with Darts controlling the game a dominating the rucks, despite a considerable size advantage to T/R.

Second half became a battle of scrums, where Janae, Izzy, Annika, and Ruby dominated this contest and saw Darts take the upper hand in most areas of the game. Thanks to some incredible defense on the line from Shannon, Amelia, and the whole team, T/R were held to one try in the second half. When we had the ball in hand we always looked dangerous, showing crisp passing some outstanding offloads in contact and powerful running from the whole team. Opportunities for Darts opened up, but we were denied on the line on a numerous occasions.

The scored ended 6-2 to T/R but did not reflect the immense effort that the girls put in. This was the best team performance this season with the bosh ball going to Captain Lucy, who took control of the game and led by example throughout.