Darts U15's Girls hold their head high even in defeat

The sun shone brightly on the St Mary’s field where the Darts U15 girls entertained the Medway U15 girls in a match which was initially to be played at Medway but moved to Darts. Perfect rugby conditions, Darts loaned a couple of players to Medway to ensure the numbers were fair.

The pack was made up of Emily, Poppy and Phoebe in the front row, Darts were without their usual talisman hooker Tierney who was unavailable (not for the same reasons as Dylan Hartley fortunately). The boiler house consisted of Milly and Jannah and Elizabeth aka Lizzy played at 8.

Medway got off to a flying start, their girls had been playing for some time and experience showed. Talie and Robyn had agreed to help them out to even up the numbers and so that all girls go as much game time as possible. There were a significant number of encouraging signs in the Darts girls game and they improved throughout. It was a little one way traffic in the first half but our girls were gradually learning how to face up to the contact and get some go forward themselves.

The backs fed by Fay at scrum half and Evie at outside half, were often greeted by the blitz defence of Medway and it was difficult receiving the ball whilst facing into the low winter sun. Ewa at centre and Eleanor, Kiana and Libby made up the back three.
Although the girls were putting in a gallant performance, the experience of the Medway girls showed and they broke away from the home team.

A short half time team talk, reminding the girls what had been rehearsed in training changed the game significantly. Robyn and Talie returned to their team and Kiana graciously swapped shirts to help out.

The Darts girls continued to fight back and pushed hard towards the Medway line, the play was determined and all seemed to have a hand in pressing up. One of the newest girls to the sport showed why we have every reason to believe she will go far, Jannah refused to be tackled and went over for the first Darts try of the match.

Medway were not going to roll over, there were some incidents which were dealt with firmly and fairly by the stand in referee, Davey Jones and play continued with some words of advice.

Darts suffered a setback when the outstanding Eleanor fell awkwardly in one of the many tackles that she made and an injury to her right arm prevented her from continuing to play, we are relieved to hear that although very painful the damage was limited to a sprain and soft tissue damage. We wish her a speedy recovery.

Although Medway scored again, it was Jannah who stole the limelight, she received the ball and set off down the wing like an Olympic sprinter, the opposition could not catch her to prevent a magnificent try. Spirits lifted and the game, although a little scrappy was getting better from the Darts girls point of view.

It is fair to say that the girls conceded a few more tries, one of which was when Robyn received a blow to the cheek which effectively ended her game. Although she showed massive heart in asking to stay on and play, the coach decided that her safety was too important and dragged her from the field of play. A short while later another heroin of the game, Libby had to leave the field of play with a groin strain. Both will have to ensure that they look after themselves before returning to play but we will not subject them to club physio.

In open play there were encouraging signs at the breakdown and the ball was getting along the back line with a little more frequency.
There were a few minutes left to play but although the score line shows the girls conceded a significant number of points, in the second half it was 21-10. The referee made a point of congratulating the manner in which the girls played, it was most pleasing that they never gave up, held their heads high and I have little doubt with more game time will become a force to be reckoned with. Teamwork, Respect, Discipline, Sportsmanship, Enjoyment.