News | U11 and U12 Girls at Cobham Festival

Written : Sunday 11th Oct 26

Our U11-12 Girls had a great first festival over at a foggy Cobham on 4th October. We had 10 to start with (including two from our junior girls cluster partner Staines RFC) mostly new players at U11.

We also agreed to borrow four from Farnham for each game to give us a bench. For most of the girls it was their first ever taste of competitive contact rugby matches. Defensively we were strong with good confident tackles, holding our lines and supporting each other in tackles and rucks. Occasionally we were a bit indecisive when the ball was on the floor and some offside issues came up that we can work on but parents and coaches were overall very impressed with them. Unfortunately we lost Harper to a head knock after the first half of the first game but up until that point she had been absolutely dominant. We lost the first game 3-1 to a well prepared Battersea Ironsides team but think it was closer than the scoreline suggested. We fell behind 3-0 early against Esher/Portsmouth but the defence dug in and the girls fought back to make it 3-2 and driving for the line when the whistle blew. Eliza got her first of 5 tries on the day and our first ever try for a Guildfordians pathway player.

Wimbledon were next and they turned up with nearly 30 girls who were all in at least their second year of playing. We could have reasonably been blown out in that one but kept it close at 4-2. Then in the last game with the girls fully fired up we took on traditional U12 powerhouse Reeds/Valkyries and we won our first match of the season 6-2. Was great to see the energy levels still high in game 4 when others were looking tired.
Tries for Eliza, Lottie and Jemima across the 4 games. Riley, Violet and Autumn all went close. In fact Autumn was in twice but had them called back for earlier infringements so was very unlucky not to make the score sheet (and privately we're counting at least one of them, so make that 7-2). Hanako played well at scrum half and had a brilliant try saving tackle that caused a turnover late. Sophia from Staines was a revelation with some great runs and tackles. Cece was powerful in the rucks and leading the charge up the field on D. Violet and Riley were first chasing down and cutting off running lanes. Everyone hit tackles, took tackles and made runs. Good passing and offloads and we didn't lose any balls off of restarts. Eliza got player of the week though for being everywhere and just making great decisions and hitting the gaps at untouchable speed.

It's the turn of our younger Pathway girls to have their first contact games this coming Sunday with the U9s and U10s off to Bromley Minis Festival. Best of luck to them.