An Unusual Mothers' Day Present

The U15 Girls were pleased to be allocated their “lucky” First XV pitch again and did not disappoint. Manchester welcomed two new younger players in Casey Thompson and Ellie Davidson, both making impressive debuts.

Manchester took control of the game from the start and camped out in the Glossop 22, forcing a scrum five metres out. The ball was well secured by the forwards, allowing Meg Standring to choose her moment to pick up and dive over for the first try. The front row of Bethan Emuss, Jess Johnson and Charlee Chambers were a handful for their opponents, and the control and support of Rachael Knowles and Casey made for a steady platform.

From the restart, Leanne Murray fielded, made some ground and passed the ball out wide to Jess. Jess showed her pace by sprinting in from half way, then cutting infield to score under the posts. Rebecca Scholes duly converted to make it 12-0.

The Manchester forwards continued to work hard to provide good ball for the backs and looked as if they had forced the ball over the line themselves only for the referee to adjudge that the ball had been held up. From the resulting scrum, Meg was again able to take control of the ball and flicked the ball across to Becks who ran on to the pass and charged over.

The girls were well positioned at the restarts so that Glossop were once again unlucky to find the ball taken by one of Manchester’s attacking backs. This time it was Emily Houghton who parted the defence with a strong run. The support players were not needed and a superb solo try was scored to bring the converted score up to 24-0.

Glossop tightened their defence from the next restart but Manchester were still able to progress deep into their half. From Glossop’s possession, a loose ball was seized upon by Emily who was able to score her second try and close the half out at a commanding 29-0 to Manchester.

Glossop were much improved in the second half and proved difficult to break down. In fact, they really should have scored first after three scrums in the Manchester 22 progressed them to within metres of the line. Ellie, who was now on as Manchester’s No.9, showed great awareness and determination. She hassled the excellent Meg Standring (who had switched to Glossop as a loan scrum half) until the visitors lost control and Manchester were able to clear.

From that breakout, it really looked as if Eleanor Harper was going to score a deserved try or possibly Emily Sumner who was in support. A determined defence pushed them back but Rebecca was inevitably on hand to pick up the scraps and make it 34-0.

Probably the best try of the day was scored when some excellent offloading across the backs (also featuring the hooker who thinks she is a back!), saw Emily start the move, out to Becks, out to Jess and back to Emily who had looped around as Becks and Jess made their way upfield.

Emma Broadbent was asked to play for Glossop at scrum half in the first half and showed her versatility by moving into the Manchester pack after half time, acquitting herself well in and behind the scrum for two different teams!

After a determined and much better second half performance, Glossop had the last word with their first try in the last minute following pressure at three attacking scrums which Manchester were unable to win.

An enjoyable game finished at 39-5 to Manchester and the girls kept their record on the First XV pitch!