*Note = For the purpose of this match report; the Stockwood/Harpenden/Watford team will be referred to as WHS so all clubs are acknowledged in this report*

WHS travelled to Datchworth on a very windy and greasy Sunday morning, preparing themselves and each other for a great 60 minutes of rugby to come. With what turned out to be an amazing spectacle for the coaches and parents alike. The girls played a 13-a-side game due to Datchworth only having 13 players (no wingers were played).

The game kicked off with surprisingly suppressed winds. However, the floor remained greasy, and the sky murky. The girls were eager and ready to implement their exciting new organised attack. However, within the first 2 minutes, Datchworth had turned the ball over, passed straight out to the wing, and despite Freya and Jess’s best effort chasing down the breakaway Datchworth player for the cover tackle, Datchworth dotted the ball down for the first 5 points of the game.

The girls settled in after the Datchworth's early try. This evidently ignited some fire in the brains and muscles of the girls as they unleashed an onslaught on Datchworth girls for the rest of the half. Poppy at flyhalf calling and organising the attack well as she started to pull the strings , calling for pods left, right, and centre of the pitch, all whilst keeping an eye on the opposition back line for the WHS backs to work use their silky hands and quick feet. The girls found their rhythm as the game flowed from sideline to sideline.

The WHS girls went on to come back from that early dent from Datchworth, delivering a series of tries, all whilst containing the Datchworth attack. With a flurry of scores coming in from a mixture of forwards and backs, WHs did well to claw back 22 points.

Half-time WHS 22 - 5 Datchworth.

The girls continued their smooth attacking rhythm that had been worked on in training and the pre-match warm-up. Attacking the 2nd half like they ended the first. WHS worked their way up the pitch with thundering runs from forwards Ella-Grace, Kadi, Phoebe, Izzy, Amelie B, and Chloe making continuous denting runs. Until Poppy spots space out wide and decides to float it out to the threats amongst the backs with Jess, Freya, Annie, Amelie G, and Margot running through, around and in some cases under the arm of scattered Datchworth defenders. All of the girls displayed some remarkable hands and sharp running lines slicing through the defence all game.

For the last 15 minutes of the match, we had the girls playing out of position testing their versatility. Freya filled in for Poppy at flyhalf, learning the attacking calls, Sophie and Annie got an introduction to playing centre and Amelie G at fullback as well as Jess slotting into blindside flanker. This didn’t have an impact on the girl's performance though, with all the girls contributing to running beautiful lines and seemingly scoring tries at the rate of knots, due to relentless attacking pressure up until the the last whistle.

Final Score: WHS 48 - 10 Datchworth

Special mentions to:

Ella-Grace - Datchworth recommended for the Hertfordshire CPD programme
Kadi - Datchworth recommended for the Hertfordshire CPD programme
Phoebe - Player of the match

Like the last game against OA’s all girls played really well and deserve a good rest and perhaps, if they’re lucky, a second portion of dinner tonight. The U16 girls are back next week to show Finchley what they’re capable of. This game is being hosted at Watford RFC. Specific details to come later in the week. Keep your ears perked up for any updates in the week. We hope to see as many girls there as possible!