On Sunday WKD travelled to Newbury to take on Welwyn, know rivals and Criditon, an unknown team from the South West of England in the semi final round of the National U15 girls competition.
The event was run on a round robin format and the draw pitted WKD first up against Welwyn.

The game started a swift pace, with WKD, shipping the ball wide, but Welwyn’s cover defence was excellent and not only stopped the attack, stole the ball. Despite the girls best efforts WKD could not establish their own flowing game as the occasional poor pass or a snatch for the ball resulted in the move breaking down, or solid defence from Welwyn stole the ball. Conversely in defence WKD covered well and tackled hard, but turn over’s were very occasional and when made WKD were not in a position to make them count.

The forward battle was very even, with scrums and line outs very competitive, without either side being dominant. In the backs, things were also well matched, but Welwyn’s Inside centre, was able to find gaps and put other players into space so effectively it made the difference.

As a result, Welwyn were able to score 3 trys to 1, and run out worthy winners, 19 points to 5.

Next match was Welwyn V Crediton, who after initially falling behind, rallied and ran out deserved winners, 29 to 7, so a second chance was provided to the WKD girls.

This match commenced at a ferocious pace, a significant step up from the first match and stalemate soon took over as attacks were thwarted by heroic defence. It was however Crediton who finally broke the deadlock, with a fine distribution of the ball, scoring on the left wing. This try set in motion a series of bad injuries, which ultimately saw, Megan, Ella, Erin, Olivia Francesca , all removed from the game, as the bench was fully deployed over a 10 minute period, while other in the team suffered knocks and bruises (Including a fractured arm for Bobbie, not identified till Monday). During this period of carnage, somehow the collective will of the WKD girls, managed after sustained pressure, to score their try, Fiona taking the ball from the base of a 5m scrum. However the collective toll of the hard games and the number of injuries proved to much in the end and allowed Crediton to score the winning try near the final whistle. Final score 12-7

When speaking to the girls after, it was clear they had played in a tough game and while disappointed, they were also up beat and rightly proud of their efforts and about what they had achieved and it was a fantastic effort to run such good teams so close and on a different day, who know what might have happened.

We wish both Welwyn and Cerditon girls every success moving forward towards the end of season festival and look forward to playing them again someday soon

Beckenham Rugby Football Club

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