A result - in more ways than one

A thoroughly professional performance today by the U18s. Seven tries from six people, and a dominent performance by the forwards, winning practically every scrum regardless of put-in. A few points to work on - the opposition at Rochford will not allow players to run through them quite as easily, and a similar lack of concentration at the start and finish could be very costly. We also need to work on the kicking! However it was great to see Ruby get her first try for two years - in fact since Rochford 2005 - and also see Carla keep going all the way to the line this time!

But today was about more than the result. This was a good run out ahead of next week against a talented by largely inexperienced team - but a team on our doorstep that will grow and develop if they are given the experience. We will be seeing them again at Letchworth on 28th (thus filling the hole created by the postponement of the National 10s) and it will be interesting to see what they will have learnt from today.

One other aim for the day was to try to see if we could combine our U15s (small in number, but experienced) with theirs (plenty of players but little experience). By and large this worked as well. The joint training session may have been rather simple for those of our girls who are now used to a more robust approach to rugby, but the good news is that the Ampthill girls enjoyed workign with our people and that three of their most experienced girls should be joining us at Rochford next weekend thus ensuring that the U15s will have a viable squad (something we had been concerned about).

At least one of Ampthill's U18s will also be joining us which will also give us greater options in our defence of the senior trophy as well.

So all in all a very productive day - now the focus falls on next weekend. Can we be the first club to retain the trophy?