FOLKESTONE
RFC
Fillies Match Report
Folkestone Fillies U15’s
Folkestone
Fillies U15’s took part in Kent Girls 7 a side festival at Cranbrook Rugby Club
last weekend. Due to the large number of girls available the Fillies were able
to field two teams. With only three other teams entering, Tonbridge, Beckenham
and Aylesford it was decided to play a league format with all teams playing
each other.
Fillies A first game
was against a Beckenham who were fielding 7 nippy looking backs. With the
Fillies electing to play a mixture of forwards and backs in equal numbers. The
pitch conditions were not conducive to running rugby and would best be
described as a quagmire. C kicked off and the Fillies ran the ball straight
back at them forcing Beckenham back into their 22. Fillies’ pressure was
intense but unfortunately a knock on resulted in a scrum to Beckenham. The
scrum consisting of Megan West, Emma Paice and Hayley Morgan, who were dominant
through out the festival, won the ball against the head. Scrum half Rose Atkins
collected the ball and moved it out to Abi Howland who took the tackle and
popped the ball back to Atkins to score in the corner.
From the start of
the second half the Fillies resumed the pressure and pinned Beckenham in their
22. A missed tackle was to prove dear as the opposition winger ran the length
of the pitch to score under the post. The try was converted to give Beckenham a
lead of 7-5 totally against the run of play. The Fillies had a matter of
minutes to reverse the deficit. Beckenham kicked off but the ball didn’t travel
10 metres. From the scrum Atkins passed to Sammy Parker who made a good 25
metres then laid the ball off to West then popped to Morgan. Howland ripped the
ball and passed to Hannah Daw to score in the corner. The full time score 10-7
to the Fillies.
Next up was
Fillies B against the tournament leaders Aylesford who took an early lead with
an unconverted try. The Fillies battled back with good scrummaging by Hannah
Batt, Amiee Riley and Miranda Haston winning the ball for scrum half Chloe
Digby to release Kerri Morgan to run a score in from 70 metres to level the
score. The Fillies battled bravely in the second half but a couple of missed
tackles saw Aylesford score two further tries to win 15-5.
Fillies A then
played B with the young ladies in the B team stepping up a gear to hold their
own. If they had have played with this passion against Aylesford they may well
have come out winners. Fillies A eventually broke the dead lock when Paice took
the ball into a maul Morgan ripped the ball out and off loaded to Howland who
cut back inside to score under the posts. With the score at 5-0 at half time
the B team were still in contention. With brave tackling by
Fillies A final
game against Aylesford was to be the decider with both teams having won all
their pool matches. By this stage of the competition the pitch was cut up
heavily and didn’t make for running 7 a side rugby. The Fillies using their
bigger forwards reverted to 15 a side play and drove the ball up field. From
the resulting scrum Atkins set up Parker to cross the line and touch down but
the ref judged that the ball had been held up. Both teams were determined to
win and errors started creeping in to the game. The tension was mounting at the
start of the second half with the score 0-0 and Howland having to join the
forwards as West retired with a leg injury.
The only score of
the game came from the Fillies. Fillies were awarded a penalty which Parker
kicked in to touch. From the line out the Fillies knocked on and Aylesford were
awarded a scrum which was won by the Fillies. Atkins popped the ball up to
Parker who at last found a gap in Aylesford’s defence to score. The Fillies
being undefeated lifted the cup in an all round close competition.
Well done to all
the girls for a very entertaining day. We all wish Megan West a speedy recovery
and will miss her presence against Tonbridge and Aylesford on Sunday.
To all young ladies reading this report
the Fillies need your help to take the team forwards. Why not come and give
rugby a TRY. Training 7-9 pm Thursday evenings at Folkestone rugby club.
Support Folkestone
Rugby Football Club