WKD National cup preliminary round 2, results and performance review.

At Thurrock, today WKD U15 girls took a squad of 16, girls to compete in the 2nd round of the preliminary rounds of the national cup.
The first game was against Ashford. The starting team include Lara at inside centre and Maddie on the wing, both new players to the squad. With only 6 recognised forwards attending, Ceri started at prop, with Elli at outside ½, but other than that, most players were in recognised positions.
From the off it was evident that Ashford were much improved from the previous games and obviously benefitted from it being their second game. At the scrum, the pack were solid and hooking was very effective by Francesca. After several minutes of play in mid field, from first phase passion, Elli produced a deft kick over the approaching defence. It was clearly a pre arranged move as Bobbie (Outside centre) was chasing hard and on this occasion the bounce of the ball was favourable and Bobbie retrieved the ball to opened the scoring. Conversion by Ellie, who hand another successful day with the conversions.
The second try came from possession won in mid field by the forwards. On this occasion Erin, set off down the blind side, linking with Megan, who dummied the pass to Maddie, cutting inside of the cover defence and then ran away to score under the post.
At ½ time, Amile moved into the front row, Ceri to 10, Sammy came on at scrum ½ Elli to fullback, and Destiny to centre and Megan onto the wing. The pack remain solid and won ball consistently which was very positive, however a couple of high tackles, resulted in a little pressure being applied to the WKD try line. Despite being pegged back on their own line, excellent line speed and commitment in the tackle and ensuing rucks especially by Ella meant the attacks were repelled and ultimately the ball was secured. A good clearance kick and chase soon converted defence into attach.
Erin rejoined the game, now at centre and made an immediate impact. Taking the ball on a crash ball line, drawing in 2 defenders. With support from Ceri, the ball was presented well allowing Sammy to move the ball via Destiny to Megan who ran round the cover to score once again. An excellent team try. The forth and final try, came from a possession once again won by the tireless pack. This time Ceri drew the blind side defender and release Megan to run in another try. Sounds easy, but it was very well executed.
26 v 0 was fair result and reflected the improvement in the Ashford Team. For WKD, it was a very solid performance and the support play was excellent.
The second game was against Thurock. The pack remained similar. Erin and Ceri were 9-10 link, Megan full back with Destiny and Lara in the Centre. From Kick offs, it was good to see the first player avoid contact with a pass and from that, space was made and some strong running by Destiny, Amilie, Ceri and Megan tries followed. There was also some committed forward play near the line, which allowed Sammy to snip over for a great score. Moving to the final ¼ and more substitution were made, with even Bobbie joining the forwards. Through the game there were 2 champagne moments. The first commenced on WKD own 22, with the ball shipped along the back line Ellie and Bobbie, to Destiny who ran hard drawing in defenders, before passing to Sophie who out sprinted their winger, then cut inside and popped the ball selflessly back to Destiny, who scored under the posts, with Sophie and Bobbie, close in support all the way to the line. The second followed a line out. The loose ball tapped back by Thurock, was flyhacked through by Ceri, (back as a forward), who got to the ball first and picked it up of the floor at full speed and in the tackle that followed, popped the ball to Bobbie who run on to score a deserved try (playing 2nd row).
The 2 new girls faired well. Lara caught and passed the ball in mid field, and was ever present in the defensive line to do her bit. Meddie caught the ball well, ran forward, and when tackled, presented well to maintain possession. Small steps but hugely encouraging for the future.
Overall really good team effort again today and showed what was possible when the ball was allowed to do the work. Support running was good and their efforts were rewarded by passes and offloads.