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JUNIOR RUGBY - SARACENS GIRLS
Sunday 2nd April
Six of us U14s went to Rochford (near Southend for the geographically challenged) to join the notorious Welwyn five in a 10 a-side match against Rochford, Basildon and Westcliffe. A classic Hertfordshire against Essex game was in store. It didn’t look good as we warmed up with 8 while they had 14, as Eabha again took the kick-off time as the time to turn up. Obviously she doesn’t think much of the dynamic warm-up, and Megan was waiting on the end of her brothers football match. Hanna, in one of her more pessimistic moments, feared the worst, especially when her Dad decided that we should play full pitch. So the thought of running in five or six tries from 50 yards frightened her beforehand! And Amanda, Amalia and Frankie were all devastated when the referee decided they would need to cut their finger nails before they played – a lesson for the future!
So the mighty Saracens/Welwyn 10 received the kick-off and immediately set the tone for the afternoon, driving into the opposition and releasing the ball from the tackle to supporting players, except for Amanda, who decided for the first five minutes that full back meant watching the game from 20m behind everybody else. After a break by Rachel, who offloaded to Claire to run in the first try, Hanna made a storming break to score one of her eventual five. Frankie then decided not to be outdone and stormed through for another. The opposition were tackling repeatedly, but the support was superb and kept the pressure on the defence until it broke. Another break by Hannah finally had Amanda run 30m to support, receive the pass out of contact and outpace the defence for the last 50m to score under the posts. The opposition came back and desperate defence forced them into touch short of our line. This allowed us to regroup, win the throw-in and attack again. Back came the opposition and some great mauling kept them out and turned over the ball. Kiera playing in her first match ran all over the pitch getting involved. Megan arriving just after the kick-off gave the players some respite as we could now roll players on and off as they got tired or injured.
Finally the referee blew up for full time with the eventual score 76:0 to the Saracens/Welwyn combined team.
So Saracens and Welwyn unbeaten for the season so far. The deciding match no doubt will take place at the Hertfordshire 7’s before we combine again to take on all comers at the National 7’s.
Stay tuned and watch this space for the results!Sunday 12th March
On March 12th, Saracens Girls welcomed Ampthill to our first ever home fixture. Frosty (Claire Frost, England No.8) very kindly volunteered to take a half-hour coaching session for both squads, then it was down to business for an U14s 7s match.
Saracens kicked off and were immediately on the defensive, but good tackling and pressure in defence soon paid dividends, with Claire intercepting a loose pass and running 40 metres to score. Back came Ampthill, again pressure defence by the Sarries girls kept the opposition out – but only just!
A good move with the ball passed down the backs allowed Claire her second try. We turned around and kicked off which allowed Ampthill to attack. A rolling maul by Ampthill drove Saracens almost to their own line. Desperate defence and attack with both teams committing everybody to the maul ended with Saracens forcing the pile of bodies into touch. Sarries won the lineout and cleared their line, only for Ampthill to attack again. The Saracens pressure defence finally turned over the ball and Eabha kicked clear. Amalia chased and won the ball before being held in the tackle. Claire supporting secured the ball and rolled off only to be tackled herself. Amalia continued her support and was able to just reach the line and score.
From the kick off Amanda made a break and off-loaded to Claire who was tackled just short of the line. She managed to pop the ball up to Eabha in support who flopped over to score.
Ampthill again came back, but Saracens’ desperate defence again held them up to keep a clean sheet.
Next up were the U17s. Saracens four girls (including Lisanne in her first ever game!), were bolstered by two Ampthill girls. In a six-a-side game that ebbed and flowed with some great skills, Saracens plus two eventually won by three tries to two.
Saturday 4th February
Our U14s went up to Old Albanians on February 4th to join the other Hertfordshire clubs in a warm-up game before the Ladies’ England v Ireland match. Our girls were also part of the International players’ tunnel before watching the match – one of them at quite close quarters as one of the twins was a ball girl!
Otherwise its been a quiet month for the girls – though things are livening up a bit now, with a County Day on 26th February in preparation for an Inter-County Tournament to be held in Surrey on the 9th of April. With the stars of the County team now playing for Eastern Region, it would seem likely that the majority of the Sarries squad will be playing County rugby by then! Claire will not be among them this weekend though, as she will be training with the Eastern Region squad – well done!
We are still looking for girls aged from 11 to 16 to come and join us at Bramley Road to learn to play rugby safely with fully qualified coaches. For more information please contact Jacky Shutler on 020 8368 5325 or shutler4@tiscali.co.uk.
Sunday 22nd January
The Saracens Girls travelled up to Letchworth on Sunday 22 January, to take part in a fixture arranged by Letchworth.
Our three U17 players, Flo, Amy and Alex were invited to join the Letchworth squad for the afternoon, who unfortunately lost to a combined Hertford/Cheshunt squad in a full 15-a-side game.
The U14s played 7s against Kibworth followed by Letchworth. In the absence of our head coach, Alan (Amy’s dad) did a bit of on-the-spot coaching to put Megan (in her first ever competitive game!) at hooker, ably bolstered by Amalia and Stephanie (borrowed for the day from Cheshunt), with Claire (team captain) at No. 9. Our twins, Chloe and Charlotte (also in their first ever game) played a half each on the wing, with Amanda and Eabha playing centre and fly half respectively. With the help of a slope in our favour, the squad scored three tries in the first half, all converted very efficiently by Eabha. Going uphill in the second half proved a little harder and Kibworth scored three tries to catch up with us and finish the match at 21 points each.
For our second game against Letchworth, Chloe volunteered to go in at hooker to give Megan a break. We won the toss and took uphill for the first half. Letchworth scored first, but missed the conversion, followed by Claire putting two down over the line (though the run up the hill for the second appeared to be almost in slow motion!!). Eabha converted one of our tries. Our girls were obviously pretty tired for the second half, but going downhill now and still giving their all. Claire scored again, followed by two Letchworth tries, then Eabha made a great break and got our fourth of the match. Amanda then took the ball right down to the line before getting tackled, but popped the ball up to Eabha to score her second, to give us a final score of Saracens 32 Letchworth 19.
All in all a great day for the Sarries girls – everyone put their best into both matches. Player of the Match goes to Amanda for sheer all out effort in attack and defence. Eabha takes highest points scorer – she only missed one conversion all day, (after all of five minutes practice before the matches!) plus those two tries. Claire gets the award for best tackle of the day – a flying try saver on our line in the Kibworth game. But team spirit and sheer determination won the day for the whole squad. We’re proud of you all.
Many thanks to Letchworth for laying on a great afternoon’s rugby.
For further information on Saracens Girls please contact Jacky Shutler on 020 8368 5325 or shutler4@tiscali.co.uk.
Home Mobile Manager Jacky Shutler 020 8368 5325 07966 742475 Shutler4@tiscali.co.uk Head Coach Simon Shutler Shutler4@tiscali.co.uk
Date Fixture Venue 26 March Training Home 2 April Saracens/Welwyn v Basildon/Rochford Away 9 April County Tournament Away 16 April Easter 23 April Training Home 30 April BBQ Home 7 May Training Home 14 April Hertfordshire 7s at Letchworth Away 21 May Training Home 28 May National 7s Away
