Another great performance by Dart U18's

Darts U18 girls entertained Scottish Emanuel in a repeat of last season's cup final which was won by the visitors. Scottish only had 12 players but due to the size of the Darts squad we were able to lend the players to make it a 15 a side match. Thanks to all the girls who played for the opposition, Poppy, Georgia, Ines, Jess , Isabella, Evie and Anna who put everything into the match showing the true spirit of the game. Darts started strongly and went through a number of phases before releasing Lizzie who raced down the right wing and when tackled popped to BK who in her normal fashion charged to the line only to be brilliantly tackled. This was followed by two rucks opened the gap for Abbie to go over. 5-0. Scottish hit back when their powerful centre crashed over for a converted try. 5-7. Darts then lost a little confidence and some reluctant rucking and a couple of missed tackles saw the visitors went through the middle of the home defence to score under the posts for a second converted try. 5-14. Darts forced a couple of penalties and went through some good phases and Melissa and Anna combined well down the left but a good tackle put the ball into touch. Darts turned over the lineout and moved the ball well and moved into the opponents half. A great run by Lola pushed the attack inside the 22 with Karis doing her bit and the maul was pushed over the Scottish line but some inexperience allowed Scottish to turn over the ball to clear. More good attacks from Darts saw them continue with good phase play but this was stopped by a high tackle. The ball was moved quickly to BK who drew in the defence before popping the ball to Lizzie who went over to narrow the score to 10-14. The second period started well with Darts still putting on the pressure but were faced by determined defence who kept them out. Darts needed to get a bit more width to allow us more gaps to run through and Cindy had a number of great runs but always had a couple of players to tackle her. Darts were again the force behind the next Scottish try by being to timid at the breakdown standing off and the slow line speed allowed the visitors to move down the pitch and the impressive scrum half scored. 10-19. Darts seemed to have most of the ball but small mistakes allowed Scottish to keep in the game with clinical finishing and again it was their scrum half caught a bobbling ball sell and great dummy and then release their winger to score in the corner. 10-24. This was a difficult spell for Darts who despite having a lot of ball did show their lack of experience and lack of line speed while again it was their influential 9 who made the break before popping the ball to the centre who went over. 10-29. Darts don't lack any spirit or determination and again they went onto the attack again and kept good control of the ball before releasing the ball down the short side and Lizzie went through to score. 15-29. From the kick off the ball was taken well by Lizzie Gubby who set up the ruck and the ball taken on by Emily and the recycled to BK who was driving through but tackled really well by their centre but was unfortunately injured and had to leave the field. Great defence by Darts with some great tackles from Cecilia and Lillie was rewarded by a turnover and the ball was quickly moved away from the breakdown to Lizzie who went over from 40 metres. 20-29. The ball was knocked on from the kick off with hands up to the ball and allowed Scottish to have a scrum 30 metres from our line. A great tackle by Karis turned the ball over and again skipper Lola took the ball on but was well tackled but Darts were given a scrum for a knock on earlier by the visitors. Unfortunately Darts took the ball the wrong way and conceded a scrum. Again it was the scrum half who took the ball on and from our small mistake we conceded a try. 20-34. Again it was the incredible determination and spirit from Darts which took the ball on again and when they found the ball inside the visiting 22 the ball was moved along the line and a great long pass from Lizzie Gubby to Lillie saw her stopped just short of the line but after a couple of drives Lizzie again showed her finishing skills to score the final try of the match to take the score to 25-34.
Another great match by both teams and this was a great day for our squad allowing 27 of our girls to get much needed game time and get great match experience and the game could have gone either way. . A very young squad growing every week we play and train and all have a great future and on another day we will eliminate those small errors and come out on top. All of the girls played well led again brilliantly by Lola and it was difficult to pick the player of the match but it was decided that Karis at No 8 performed throughout the match at a very high level and received the accolade.