Magnificent first win for Darts U18 girls at Dorking

On a wet cold and windy day dart U18 girls travelled to Dorking for their second cup match. There wee a number of players unavailable so the squad size was the bare 15 but on arrival Dorking were down to 13 players so we had two subs to play with. The girls started off really well and were looking after the ball at the breakdown and recycling it very well but it was a difficult day in the backs with the wet greasy ball and conditions underfoot very slippery. Both teams were coping really well and the passing and handling was excellent. The difference in the opening stages was that the tackling by the Darts players was superb knocking back the Dorking players behind the gain line. Lizzie and debutant Tadi both put in some real bone crunching hits as well as running really well with ball setting up some great attacks. In the set piece Darts looked strong with our front row of Lola, Lara and Rebecca in the front row as solid as ever ably backed up by locks Eleanor and Jess. It seemed as though Darts would open the scoring as they were working hard winning the ball and trying to move it through the hands but excellent Dorking defence kept them out. Abbie also making her debut was put in at the last minute at scrum half and did a really good job especially as the teams were playing without a number 8. Eventually the opening score came and it was the only mistake made by Darts in the first half when the conditions contributed to a missed tackle which allowed Dorking to open the scoring 5-0. Darts hit back when Emily who had made some really strong runs fed Lizzie who looked as though she was through but was tackled brilliantly 5 metres short but managed to offload to another debutant Cecilia who had worked hard to support Lizzie and go over and score her first try. 5-5. Unfortunately for Darts Tadi had to leave the field with an injured knee following a great tackle and an overall brilliant first half of rugby. Melissa came on to replace her. Dorking yet again managed to get behind Darts with a kick taking advantage of there being no full back to again take the lead. 10-5. BK who was also playing her first full competitive match showed her strength with some magnificent runs which inspired the girls and this encouraged Jess to show her massive improvement taking the ball at the opposition and setting up the ball really well. Karis who was playing at flanker instead of her normal 8 position as all over the field tackling and driving the ball onwards keeping Dorking on the back foot.It was now apparent that there was a real team feel about how the girls were playing all encouraging and working hard for each other.
With the start of the second half Darts again looked comfortable with the ball in hand as well as defending when without it using good line speed to put pressure on the Dorking players.. Whenever Dorking attacked there was always someone to put inthe tackle and Melissa and Pip playing on the wings never let their opposite numbers get past them and it wasn't a surprise when D arts equalised when scored their second try when BK powered through and showed magnificent pace to run 40 metres to score.10-10. Darts were seeing good play from Lara , Lola, Rebecca and Eleanor taking the ball on and with Megan on at flanker there was another willing runner and within minutes of drawing level went ahead for the first time when it was Lizzie who powered over. 10-15. In the conditions play from both teams was excellent and it was a really good competitive match and it was Dorking who showed their quality when they put together a number of good phases and scored when darts ran out of defenders. The first conversion of the day put Dorking ahead again 17-15. This was going to be a test of Darts resilience now especially with their inexperience of being in this position and all the girls stepped up to the plate. Lola led front the front as skipper and then it was Pip taking the ball on along with Cecilia, Karis and BK trying to make the breakthrough. When Dorking did have the ball Darts still defended really well with Melissa and Cecila putting some great tackles with the tempo still high and their line speed fast Darts eventually created space which allowed Lizzie to use her quality and experience to glide through for what turned out to be the winning score. 17-20. With 10 minutes still to play there was still a lot of work to do and all the players did what they had to do to get over the line working really hard for each other to snuff out any threat thrown at them from Dorking.
A magnificent effort from everyone of the players enabling them to record their first ever win in their first season playing at U18 level especially when a large number of the team still have 2 years left in this age group after this season. It was impossible to pick out one player as there were great performances from all of them but the team were led brilliantly by skipper Lola who took on the responsibilities of leadership fantastically.
Our next match is against Tunbridge Wells on the 29th January