With the sun beating down all day and a rock hard playing surface, it was a perfect day for 7s rugby .... well, not really, but this was a superb tournament despite the obvious drawbacks noted above and a computer printer failure which meant us going back to using paper and pens for the day. (Fantastic technology, by the way - I wonder if it will catch on?)
There were 7 U18s team entered and these played in two groups : Wimbourne/Central Weald/Chobham and Letchworth/Dorking/Worthing/Mitcham : with the top 2 from each group going forward to the cup competition and the others competing for the plate.
Our first game was against Mitcham and the girls were in fine form scoring 5 tries to win the game comfortably 25-10. The second game saw Letchworth take on Worthing in a very evenly balanced match. It was really exciting to watch with breaks galore and fantastic try-saving tackles on both sides - the tackles by Natalie, Nikki and Emily being particularly memorable - but Letchworth were just beaten by 3 tries to 2. The final group game for Letchworth was against the home side who proved to be very strong rattling in some 6 tries with only one try from Nikki in reply. During this game, Carla landed very heavily on her shoulder and neck and was duly strapped down and carted off to the hospital to be fully checked over.
So at the end of the group games we found ourselves in 3rd place and destined for the plate competition. Meanwhile, Dorking and Worthing proceeded to the cup competition and deservedly came away as cup winners and runners-up respectivly.
In the plate competition, Letchworth played Chobham first and paid the penalty for conceeding 2 tries in quick succession at the start of the game. Having gone 10-0 down, Letchworth came back strongly but could not quite overcome the strong Chobham side eventually losing the game 20-15. The final match was against our first opponents of the day, Mitcham. This was a much closer encounter than the first meeting and, having established a good lead early on, Letchworth found themselves clinging on at the end to win by a single try 15-10
So at the end of a day of mixed fortunes and very hard work by all the players, Letchworth found themselves runners-up in the plate competition. Happily I can report that Carla's injury was not as serious as at first feared and she was released from hospital that afternoon.
Here are a few pictures of a great day of rugby -
Our first game was against Mitcham and the girls were in fine form scoring 5 tries to win the game comfortably 25-10. The second game saw Letchworth take on Worthing in a very evenly balanced match. It was really exciting to watch with breaks galore and fantastic try-saving tackles on both sides - the tackles by Natalie, Nikki and Emily being particularly memorable - but Letchworth were just beaten by 3 tries to 2. The final group game for Letchworth was against the home side who proved to be very strong rattling in some 6 tries with only one try from Nikki in reply. During this game, Carla landed very heavily on her shoulder and neck and was duly strapped down and carted off to the hospital to be fully checked over.
So at the end of the group games we found ourselves in 3rd place and destined for the plate competition. Meanwhile, Dorking and Worthing proceeded to the cup competition and deservedly came away as cup winners and runners-up respectivly.
In the plate competition, Letchworth played Chobham first and paid the penalty for conceeding 2 tries in quick succession at the start of the game. Having gone 10-0 down, Letchworth came back strongly but could not quite overcome the strong Chobham side eventually losing the game 20-15. The final match was against our first opponents of the day, Mitcham. This was a much closer encounter than the first meeting and, having established a good lead early on, Letchworth found themselves clinging on at the end to win by a single try 15-10
So at the end of a day of mixed fortunes and very hard work by all the players, Letchworth found themselves runners-up in the plate competition. Happily I can report that Carla's injury was not as serious as at first feared and she was released from hospital that afternoon.
Here are a few pictures of a great day of rugby -
There are more pictures on the famous Threlfall archive and also at www.scrumpix.co.uk which you may like to see.
This was a great tournament which everyone really enjoyed so many, many thanks to Jo Martin, to Dorking rugby club and, of course, to the first aid/ambulance crews for their help treating Carla's injury.
Letchworth try scorers :
Natalie (4), Nikki (3), Katie (3), Jess (3), Charlie
One other positive to come from this is to note that - Katie and Carla aside - this was a Letchworth U16 team in an U18 competition. Most of Sunday's squad will still be around for two more seasons.
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