Match Report - Northwich v Sirens U15 second round Area Cup pool match

On a sunny October Sunday afternoon we all headed to Northwich to play our second round Area Cup pool match. Having played a pre-season friendly at Northwich a few weeks ago and Northwich hosting the Cheshire trials last week, today felt more like a ‘second home’ venue as opposed to an away fixture!
Our team seemed to arrive in dribs and drabs. As we started the warm-up it wasn’t at all certain whether we would be able to field a full side for this crucial Cup match, when all of a sudden player ‘reinforcements’ arrived resulting with us having not just a full team available but also four replacements.
We managed to get a fair bit of training done during the warm up, which was great, with all the girls ‘getting to grips’ with the style of play we had pre-trained at club training sessions earlier in the week. After the warm-up our girls were raring to go!
The game finally got underway after what seemed an age of ‘flapping’ about. From the kick-off we kicked deep in to Northwich’s twenty two, only to be ‘out done’ by their fly-half and fullback linking up and breaking our defensive line, leaving us scrabbling in defence as they put us under huge pressure.
For the next ten minutes or so we couldn’t seem to get hold of the ball. We repelled wave after wave of attack from Northwich. However, our defence was not just holding but we seemed to be putting them on the back foot with our aggressive line speed and powerful tackling.
We finally got a foot in the game, quite literally when Northwich had a scrum on our ten metre line. Scarlett and Caitlin (adopting her new more powerful body position) got the nudge in the scrum leaving Zoe to counter-hook the ball back. With scrum half Jess firing a quick pass to fly-half Abi followed by ‘quick hands’ from both our centres, Emily playing wing was put free and only a last ditch tackle made by the Northwich fullback saved an almost certain opening try for us.
From this point on we took control of the match. Our forwards seem to have the edge around the pitch, with great tackling and rucking leaving Northwich’s only option to run at our strong tackling centres Katie Williams and Charlotte who soaked up any sort of pressure with easy. One telling moment occurred whilst the scores were still 0-0 – Niamh, Northwich’s big powerful fly-half, made a break down the right with the fullback coming hard on her shoulder giving them a potential overlap. What looked likely to become a clean break and score was abruptly stopped by Katie Williams putting in the ‘tackle of the day’. With total disregard for her own personal safety she chopped Niamh down by the ankles taking a boot to the face in the process. After a quick ‘patch up’ to stop a resultant nose bleed Katie was raring to get back on to the pitch – one tough ‘Welsh’ cookie!
We kept the pressure up on Northwich who were now defending ‘with their lives’ but our more powerful forwards did not loosen their grip on retaining and recycling the ball. We thought our Captain, Scarlett had scored following a powerful crash through to the try line but it was classed as a knock-on. Northwich could not get out of their twenty-two metre area and were now conceding penalties due to the pressure we had them under. One such penalty was given to us within ten metres of the line and Scarlett realising that Northwich players were slow retreating back to their own try line, tapped the penalty quickly to herself and ran in a well deserved try to break the deadlock. 5-0 conversion missed.
From the kick-off we were straight back into Northwich’s half. Our phases were working well providing great quality ball for our backs to use. Having shown Northwich how good our backs were at defending Northwich were about to find out how good our backs were at attacking!
From one wing to another Northwich were subjected to continual line breaks. First Lilly breaking through to almost score in the corner to Orlagh, on debut, almost scoring in the other corner after receiving her first ever rugby pass in a match. Chances came and went but there were no further scores before the half time whistle.
Second half we just seemed to click and we maintained our match ascendancy for virtually all of it. From the kick off, a big run from Josie led to Beth almost going over for her first try, Theo clearing out, and Daisy linking up with Scarlett who powered over again for her second try. 10-0 conversion missed
Team replacements were in full swing at this point but no matter whom we put on and in what playing position we seemed to be the stronger side. Emily moved to fullback and was coming in to the line with lovely angles and great breaks. With the forwards doing the hard graft and ‘drawing in’ Northwich’s defence the backs started getting plenty of good quality ball to exploit the space out wide leading to Anya out-sprinting the covering defence to score . 15-0 conversion missed.
Katie Williams not only working hard in defence also put in a powerful run after an attacking scrum breaking through the middle and scoring her first try under the posts. 22-0 Scarlett adding the extras.
Holly now playing centre soon broke through as well going over the try line but having the try disallowed – deemed held-up. Soon after Charlotte seemed to score but a knock-on was given.
These setbacks didn’t affect us as we kept up the pressure. Abi was steering the side from her fly-half position with a few good line breaks but more importantly putting players in to space displaying her excellent timing and passing skills. This led to Holly using her pace to once again break through the centre, this time making sure no Northwich player would be near her when she put the ball down over the try line! 27-0 missed conversion.
With our backs attacking across the pitch, recycling and quickly attacking down the other side of the pitch, Northwich’s defence were now in total disarray. From a scrum inside the Northwich twenty-two metre line we passed the ball all the way across the field to give Katie Payne a chance to score in the corner, only for her to be held up and forced back over the try line. The ball was quickly recycled and the attack continued the other way with Charlotte eventually going over the try line for the final score of the match. 32-0 conversion missed.
It was an absolute pleasure to watch such an outstanding team performance against a very credible Northwich team. Any number of girls could have been made our player of the match. Katie Williams was outstanding and deserves a special mention. The scrum was very solid even with replacement changes - all the forwards put their ‘hands up’. Every one of our centre combinations held solid in defence and all our backs players proved an attacking threat with four of our backs scoring a try each. Anya had possibly her best ever game, as did most of our players. However we can only select one player of the match and today we decided Emily Ford was the ‘star which shined brightest’.

Match Report by Marcus and Brendan