A great day out at Tabard RFC

Sunday May 18th will go down in the memory of all the U18 Letchworth players and supporters as the day when nearly everything went right ... ... ... ...

But before I get too wrapped up in the U18s tournament I'd like to spend a short while discussing the U15s where Laura Wennington played for the Herts Barbarians team who were drawn in a group with Basford and Tamworth. As is usual on such occasions, the Barbarians were players from different clubs (who did not have enough players to enter a team of their own) and were put together on the day to form a team for the tournament. Although many of the players didn't know each other before the games started, they worked really hard together and, after a heavy defeat (39-0) to Basford in the first game, they beat Tamworth 31-5 to finish second in their group. This secured them a place in the Plate competition where they met Kettering in the semi-final. Kettering put on a fine display to secure their place in the Plate final, while Herts Barbarians went on to play Hertford in the third place play-off for the Plate. Despite a spirited performance the Herts Barbarians went down 26-5 giving them 8th place overall in the U15s tournament - a very creditable performance for a team introduced to each other only 30 minutes before they played!!

The Letchworth U18s started very badly - Richard's car broke down in Letchworth with two players on board! By the time I had unloaded my car at Tabard and made the round trip to collect them, the first game against Pavworth Maoris had already finished. However, it was good news that greeted our arrival - the Letchworth girls had played really well to win the game 25-0 and we were in time for the second game against Kettering. Just as sometimes everything one tries goes wrong, so the Kettering game was one of those when (almost) everything Letchworth tried went well. The 'almost' refers to a wonderful tackle from Georgie which unfortunately resulted in a very swollen ankle and Georgie being forced to watch the rest of the tournament from the sidelines. Despite this, the team ran in 9 tries to win that match 55-0 and so they entered the final group match against Bucks Jesters full of confidence. The first half was the 'Randy show' - 3 tries and one conversion from her saw Letchworth in a commanding position at half-time but, early in the second half, Hayley saw red and was promptly despatched to watch the rest of the tournament from the sidelines. The remaining 6 bravely fought on to secure the game 22-12 and thereby to win first place in the group.

And so to the knock-out stages of the competition with a semi-final against Wisbech Grammar school who had beaten Herts Swifts and Reading in their group. The match was another excellent display by the Letchworth girls who notched up 6 tries to earn a place in their first Cup Final of the season. The opponents were Basford who had won their semifinal with a convincing 30-0 victory over Bucks Jesters.

Unfortunately, the final was not to be a happy finale for Letchworth. Having conceded a trio of tries very early on, it was always going to be an uphill struggle and, even though Katie scored a try shortly after the break, and all the Letchworth girls gave everything they could, it was Basford who ran out winners by 8 tries to 1.

Overall, second place in the Herts 7s is something all the players should be immensly proud of. I'm certainly proud of you and I know the coaches are too. Well done, girls!

Letchworth U18 Results :

Letchworth GC 25 v 0 Pavworth Maoris

Letchworth GC 55 v 0 Kettering

Letchworth GC 22 v 12 Bucks Jesters

Letchworth GC 36 v 7 Wisbech GS

Letchworth GC 5 v 48 Basford

Letchworth scorers :

Randy : 6 tries/1 conversion

Nikki : 5 tries/1 conversion

Sasha : 4 tries/5 conversions

Katie : 3 tries

Hayley : 3 tries

Jess : 2 tries

Laura : 1 try

Natalie : 1 try

Totals : tries = 25

conversions = 7

points = 139

points difference = 72