Scorpions R.F.C. Girls Rugby Club

Match "Report" - Sunday 1st December
Scorpions U18s   34  v  10  Sussex & Kent U18s
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With U18 club fixtures so difficult to arrange, Scorpions were delighted to accept an invitation to play against a combined Kent & Sussex U18 county squad at Tonbridge, Kent.

The U18s (and Lorna - she's the little one !) in our brand new shirts, before the match v Kent & Sussex

The pack again had a fine performance, and although we were outweighed by the Kent & Sussex front row, we managed to more than hold our own in the scrums. Accurate throwing-in by Sheren and a second-row of Alex and Nicola meant that we dominated the lineouts too. Natalie Sullivan and Claire Penn, who were both making their U18 debuts, gave strong performances and even managed to keep up with their "older" team-mates.

In the backs, Helen Sherriff was drafted in to scrum-half and Nicky had a very impressive full debut at fly-half. These two combined well to move the ball away from rucks and mauls quickly and accurately, allowing us to launch the other backs. Vicky Coke had a powerful performance at centre, making good yards by driving at the middle of the Kent & Sussex defence. With Kate Hammond and Chloe Allcorn on the wings and Kosi at full-back, we had plenty of power and pace and they caused the opposition no end of problems.

After soaking up some early pressure, we moved the ball smoothly along the back line to release Kosi for our first 2 tries. Kent & Sussex responded well and managed to push us back into our own half. However, just as they launched another attack, Nicky caught their fly-half running laterally, stripped the ball from her and raced 60 yards to score under the posts. After what she claimed was an Austin Healey celebration (although there wasn't a subs bench in sight !), she converted her own try to give us a 17-0 half-time lead.

In the second-half we borrowed 2 players from Kent & Sussex to help cover our injuries. One of them, Anneka, promptly scored a long-range try with her first touch of the ball. Helen Sherriff converted to give us a 24-0 lead. At this point, it seemed as if we relaxed and Kent & Sussex took advantage by promptly hitting back with a try in the corner. Kosi added another for us (despite dodgy grounding - please use 2 hands !) and we then conceded another in the exact same spot to bring it back to 29-10. From then on, we were under constant pressure and only some solid defence and some excellent kicking from Nicky to clear our lines, kept our line secure. To end the scoring, and against the run of play, Kosi raced 100 yards for her 4th try and sealed a 34-10 victory.

Many thanks again to Kent & Sussex for the invitation and to Tonbridge Juddians for their hospitality. A superb win by the Herts County U16s at the same ground, rounded the day off nicely - many congratulations to everyone concerned.

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