Tough day at Eton Manor for U18 girls

It was a tough day for the U18 girls at Eton Manor playing a young team who has been together for a number of years whereas Darts included 6 girls who were playing their first matches for the club. Kent and Middlesex trials as well as Richmond Ladies had stripped Darts of 13 players and along with a number of injuries took the field with players playing out of position. This was immediately apparent when Eton showed they were a talented and very well organised team and put Darts on the back foot from the start and with Darts trying to find their feet a number of strong drives saw their No 8 go over from close range. 5-0. The forwards were working hard and competing but were being harried by the home team. Chimdi playing her first match was looking strong at prop and supported well by Poppy and Tierney who has progressed really well this season since coming up to the 18's. Elizabeth F was playing really well carrying well and tackling as was our other debutant Elizabeth B who was driving on strongly with the ball. The defence from the home side was very good and with the pressure they were putting on we were unable to keep the phases going long enough to create an opening. We saw some good runs from Didi and Dominique again in their first matches and Georgia was playing well taking a lead as the experienced player in the squad.
Another good set of phases and another strong runner went over for the second Eton score. 12-0. Darts could have folded but they kept encouraging each other and trying to find openings with Lilly at scrum half taking the captaincy and really trying to keep the team on the front. Darts were defending stoutly and managed to turn the ball over but when the clearing kick was gathered well by the home full back she went on a mazy run run and scored in the corner. 17-0. Apart from Lilly all the backs were playing out of position and this was taking them time to work out their positioning but they were really tackling well. Evie at fly half took the ball on really well despite her small stature and Thelma in the centre from flanker alongside Izzy just needed a little more space but again good defence kept them out. Eton again looked to attack by first using their strong runners in tight before releasing their backs but there were great tackles put in by Nadia, Talie and new girl Sibo who tackled two or three Eton girls in quick succession. Eton's strong 8 was everywhere and she kept her team on the front foot and when there was a loose ball was also on hand to pick it up and score under the posts. 22-0. This was the score at halftime and although behind Darts were giving Eton Manor a tough runout.
Emily A who had played well for Eton in the first half swapped with Georgia and she was early into the game tackling and carrying the ball. Unfortunately Chimdi had to leave the field with a return of an old ankle injury. The half was shaping up in a similar way to the first but Darts were much more competitive with the girls really taking the ball at their opposition. The Eton team held firm whenever Darts had the ball and were very well organised and were patient waiting for the right moment to try and turnover the ball and again it was from a strong scrum that they won against the head that they moved down the blindside and the impressive No 8 scored.27-0. It was now the best period of the match for Darts as they started to drive forward with ball with both Elizabeths running really strongly and they eventually were deep in the home half. Tierney was at the heart of a lot of the play keeping Eton on the back foot and the backs were also making runs through the gaps. Again it was excellent defensive organisation that kept Darts from scoring when they had repeated attempts close to the line. From this defensive position Eton won the ball back and impressively ran out from their own 22 pushing play into the Darts half but again good defence stopped any further break. Play was centred around the 10 metre line for a period but then some more good play pushed darts back into their 22. A good blindside break from a scrum forced Darts onto their own line and after two phases it was the No 8 who again capped a fine display with another try 32-0.
Although a large margin on the scoreboard the team were extremely happy that we managed to get 16 players to play on a cold wet Sunday morning and everyone put everything could into the game against a very good well coached and organised side. It was difficult to pick the player of the match as both Elizabeths were excellent as were Nadia and Sibo and every player added to the team but on the day the coaches felt that Tierney fully deserved the award for her continued work rate throughout the match.
Next week we have training ahead of our Area3 Cup semi final on the 10th February.