Women’s 1st XV away to Bec Belles.

After a cancelled game against Harlow last weekend, the Thornwood girls had been without a game for 3 weeks and were keen to get back on the pitch.

They arrived at Bec Belles ground, minus their normal pack-leader Alexa, who had unfortunately broken her fibula at County trials on Friday night, so in stepped Original Hurley to take on the role.

The game kicked off on a pitch that sloped severely end to end, with Epping going downhill first.

From the kick off, Epping drove Belles back down into their 22 and pinned them there for around 10 minutes, repeatedly punching holes and securing rucks. Multiple last-ditch tackles had to be made by the hosts to stop Epping breaching their line, but eventually the pressure told, and the ball was passed out to the right winger Shammah who went over in the corner.

The conversion was too far out, against a head wind, so the score was 0-5

Epping took the ball from the restart, and took it into contact, where the ref decided a penalty offence had been committed by them at the ensuing ruck. Belles put the ball into touch 15m from Epping’s try line, and then at the lineout, Epping were pinged for having too many players in the lineout.

Despite the ref being in conversation with Epping’s captain Donna about the offence, Belles took a quick free kick and managed to ship the ball to their centre, who barged over the line to score.

No conversion for Belles either, so the scoreboard stayed at 5-5.

A brief chat behind the posts from Donna & Ella H focused the girls on what they needed to do, and they set about the task.
The scrums were immense, with Original Hurley, BJ and Nina having a field day. Belles were shoved backwards 5 or 6 metres every time, even on their own ball. Kiera picked and went at 8, forcing Belles to make double tackles to stop her breaking the line. BK levelled ball carriers, as did Anna.

India was her usual workaholic self, hitting players on every part of the pitch, and Larry seemed to be at every ruck.
Epping soon forced their way back down to the Belles 22 again.

Original Hurley, Nina, Kiera and Anna carried the ball hard and were only just kept from going over. Now they were 10m from the line and Donna recycled the ball, passed it to Ella H, who popped it to a charging Millie. Some deft footwork saw her evade two flailing tacklers and she was over in the left-hand corner for the second Epping try.

Once again, the kick proved too far against the wind, and the score was 5-10.

Halftime came and the girls gathered for drinks and some encouragement from the coaches.

Jane came on for BJ, Rottweiler for Larry and NotChloe and Lauza entered the field. Now the girls were playing up the hill.
But this didn’t seem to make the slightest difference, as within 5 minutes, the ball was quickly moved from a ruck to Ella H, to Millie, then to Emma, who popped to Fullback Ella D who’d joined the line.

No one was able to stop her, and she danced around the defenders to go over for her own try.
5-15 now to the visitors

Belles then had a better 10-minute spell of their own, and got themselves down into the Epping half, and managed to get within 10 metres of the try line.

Time after time they tried to punch their way through the Epping defence, but time and time again they were held out.
Finally, they gave the ball to one of their biggest carriers who crashed into Hurley expecting to barge her out of the way from 2m out.
This was a mistake, as Hurley just wrapped her up and rolled her over, to stop the ball from being grounded.
The goal-line drop unfortunately went straight out, so Belles were awarded a scrum on Epping’s 5m line. No need to worry thigh, as true to form, Epping’s scrum shoved Belles off their own ball again, and Donna fed the ball to Ella D, who kicked the ball some 30 metres back up the pitch to relieve the pressure.

Now the Thornwood girls were galvanised again.

At a lineout, Lauza was up highest and dropped the ball to Donna, who passed to a charging pod of Forwards. Ball recycled easily and it went this time to Ella H who span it to Millie. Millie cut back inside and passed to Ella D who made ground though traffic before lifting the ball to a supporting Shammah.

A burst of speed, a side step, and then a sprint for the line saw her go over in the corner for her second try of the day.
Score 5-20 now.

On to the pitch came Alicia for Eden, and Mia came on for her debut, immediately getting involved on the right wing. For the remaining 20 minutes of the match, Epping tried their best to break through, but a combination of determined defence from Belles, and final phase handling errors with a greasy ball meant they couldn’t get over the line again.

The final whistle went, and the girls celebrated another win.

This team showed yet again that they’re prepared to fight for each other, support each other and work to the finish.
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate between those girls who’ve been around for ages and those that are newer to the set-up, such is the determination of all.

A credit to the coaching set-up, and the Leaders in the squad.

Forward of the Match went to Original Hurley for her solid display as first time Pack Leader. Carried hard, buried people in defence and stopped a certain try.

Back of the Match went to Ella D at Fullback. Calm and assured when kicking, stopped breakaway ball carriers at the back, joined the attacking line at every opportunity and scored a great try of her own.

The “Granny Smasher” bottle of bubbles award went to Mille at 12, for countless hits all over the park, driving girls back that were twice her size and non-stop running.

The girls now sit in second place, only 6 points behind Romford, but with 3 games in hand.

Their next game is another trek to the other side of London, away to Hampstead Ladies on March 3rd.