Great match to start the Kent U18 girls league

Darts entertained Tunbridge Wells in their opening Kent U18's league season and despite both teams being a bit rusty it was a thoroughly entertaining match. The visitors started well going immediately on the attack but darts were defending really well and tackling everything that was thrown at them. T Wells were very well organised and very quick to the breakdown although the home side looked good at ruck time. It was pretty even in the scrums and darts front row of Jazmine,Megan and Alys looked very solid and the new second row pairing of Emily and elizabeth didn't look out place in their first U18 outing. Darts back row was again very strong with Innes always offering herself up take the ball on ably backed up by skipper Lola who again was leading the team from the front.The visitors were managing to keep the ball away from our strength and kept the ball live really well and eventually they found a way through to open the scoring. This didn't deter darts who kept trying to get the ball wide and the new half back pairing of Lilly and Ewa was starting to find their feet moving the ball well out to Lizzie and Anna who were making ground but the defence was very strong not allowing either of them to make the clean line breaks they were used to last year. Isabelle and Holly on the wing and at full back also new to the team were having to work really hard and on a couple of occasions were outnumbered and this led to a couple more tries which stretched the visitors lead. As usual Evie was strong with the ball in hand and tackled well but there was little space for any of the backs to get behind the opposition. Alys was replaced by Jannah again making her debut at prop and was looking good until she was injured. Georgia was on the field as Darts reorganised and was immediately in the thick of it. Darts although behind were now getting into the pace of the game and pushing the visitors back into their own 22 with great driving runs from Lola and Karis who was putting in a great shift. There was an intense effort to try and get the score that would close the gap but determined defence and the odd error just stopped their progress and despite camping on the line a quick turnover saw Wells break away to score against the run of play at that time to take a half time lead of 24 -0.
Darts really had to work hard to get something out of the match and they immediately went on the attack and forced the visitors back into their own half but if there was a criticism of the team it was that their protection of the ball in contact needed to improve against a team who were very adept at going for the ball in the tackle and ripping out of our hands. However this was now a much more even contest and darts got their deserved reward with a try from Karis following some good phase play. Unfortunately for Darts they were still making some small errors at crucial times and it was from another these that gave the visitors another try. With Faith coming in the team on the wing and Ramat making her debut on the other wing we saw Darts playing at the same level at the visitors and when both got the ball they were very difficult to stop.Unfortunately Georgia and Jannah were both injured and this meant that Ramat moved into the forwards. . Although Wells scored another try it definitely seemed that Darts were in the ascendancy and they kept battling strongly and were becoming better organised and when Ramat received the ball on half way she used her strength and speed to score a great try and see the score end at 38-14. Although the score probably doesn't reflect the game Wells deserved their win with some great team rugby and organised defence but Darts should be very pleased with their performance and the way in which they grew into the game and solve some of the problems put in front of them and will continue to improve as the season progresses.
As there were so many good performances with the entire team playing well and working really hard there is no player of the match but a special mention should go to all the players playing their first match at U18 level.

Next week we travel to Aylesford for our second league fixture