The U17s season overview

This season we have had the largest U17s squad since the Girls section was formed in 2004, we’ve played the most matches and we’ve had - by far - the most success. So John asked me to delve through the records to present a short review of the season starting with the overall statistics …..


Matches :

Played : 46/Won : 25/Drawn : 1

In all we played against 25 different teams of which we defeated 18 at least once during the season - so, obviously, one of next season’s targets should be to beat the other 7 (Reading, Welwyn, Worcester, Wimbourne, Paviors, Hertford & Vampires)!


Tries and Points

In total, Letchworth U17s scored 90 tries in the 46 games of which 32 were converted giving a total of points scored of 514. An average of almost 2 tries and just over 11 points per game. So who scored them? Well, I guess most of you will have more than a sneaking suspicion as to who scored most tries …… but who came second on the try scoring table? And on the points scoring table? And who came third? And fourth? And fifth? Some questions may not be as easily answered as who was the top try scorer (let’s just call her “Player H” for now).

Anyway, I’ll be coming to all that later …


Friendlies

There were 13 friendly matches this season starting at Milton Keynes on 1st October where a new feature of Letchworth play was very evident ... having gone 2 tries behind, the Letchworth girls got down to business and snatched victory by 22-19. This determination to succeed from adversity was a vital feature in the success that was to come on the tour and in tournaments later in the season. Of the remaining friendlies 6 were won and 6 lost.


Tournaments

We entered 7 tournaments this season – Beckenham, Rochford, the National Cup (with Sudbury), Regional 10s, National 10s, Herts 7s and National 7s - and came away with 4 trophies!

The first trophy of the season, which was also the first outright tournament win that Letchworth Girls have achieved, was at Rochford in October when a massive team effort in all 4 games had them concede only 1 try while scoring 10 themselves! Star try scorer of the day was Hayley who ran in 6 of them including the only score in the opening game against the home team, Rochford. The final against Sudbury was also decided by a single try this time scored by Katie from a scrum near the Sudbury line. Regrettably, that was the only time Letchworth beat Sudbury throughout the season ….but it was a very good time to do it!

In the National Cup, 'Letchbury' finished 3rd in the semi-final beaten by Wimborne and Welwyn.

The second trophy came at the Regional 10s tournament at Leicester where the only draw of the season (against Vampires) and a defeat to Paviors left the girls needing to beat Kettering to continue to the next phase. This feat was achieved thanks to the Katie/Nim partnership yeiding 3 converted tries.to Kettering’s 2. The final was between Letchworth and Paviors and Paviors proved to be too strong for us again running out winners 22-0. So, second place for Letchworth, a place in the National 10s finals and our second award of the season – the Fairplay trophy.

The third trophy came at the National 10s finals at Lichfield on a pleasant, sunny, afternoon ….. alright, strike that last part ….. on an afternoon so wet and cold that we would have been warmer and drier if we had jumped in the river! An initial victory over Dorking, thanks to a try by Sasha, was followed by a narrow defeat to Welwyn and then, in progressively wetter and wetter conditions, by losses to the Wonderful W’s (Wimbourne & Worcester) who showed their class in the awful conditions. With so many of the girls feeling really cold, we wrapped them up and bundled them off home without realising that we had won the Fairplay trophy here as well!

The fourth trophy was at the National 7s in Leighton Buzzard where we were drawn in a group with Dorking, Reading & Worcester. An initial narrow victory over Dorking was followed by two defeats which meant Letchworth were in the Plate competition semi-final against Basford. Letchworth won this very tight match by the narrowest of margins – Nim’s conversion being the difference between the sides. The Plate final was a rematch of the first game of the day against Dorking and this time Letchworth scored an emphatic win 24-5 thanks to Hayley’s 4 tries.


The Exeter Tour

The first Letchworth Girls rugby tour to Devon and Cornwall at Easter was a great success. There were two hard fought matches against Liskeard-Looe and Exeter Saracens both of which were won by Letchworth albeit the Liskeard-Looe game required a Hayley special on the last play of the game to secure victory 20-17!


IE Weldon College

In early April we played host to 'Canada Day' - a set of friendly matches centred around the touring side from IE Weldon College in Ontario, Canada. Letchbury played the tourists, snatching a narrow win 17-10, and a Barbarians side comprising players from some 4 teams who were defeated 10-7.


Try and Point Scorers

Before I give you the list of who scored what this season, I’d like to say a word about those who did not appear on the scoresheet - rugby is a team sport and the players who support the try scorers are every bit as vital to the success of the team as those who do the scoring. Now that I’ve got that off my chest, the top scorer is … … … … well, you really don’t need me to tell you who player H is, but have you figured out the others yet?

Try scorers

37 : Hayley Guilder
10 : Sasha Acheson
7 : Naomi Parnell
6 : Katie Alcock
5 : Rosie Randfield, Natalie Threlfall
4 : Carla Kelly
3 : Charlie Hughes, Jess Robinson
2 : Sophie Boorman
1 : Nikki Alcock, Rosie Randall

Points Scorers

189 : Hayley Guilder
87 : Naomi Parnell
52 : Sasha Acheson
30 : Katie Alcock
27 : Natalie Threlfall
25 : Rosie Randfield
20 : Carla Kelly
17 : Jess Robinson
15 : Charlie Hughes
10 : Sophie Boorman
5 : Nikki Alcock, Rosie Randall


It’s been a great season! Well Done!!