We lost a couple of players before the game with our captain Jess Turrill suffering from a heavy cold and Gemma Morgan (AKA Trevor) unfortunately also ill and confined to her bed. It was good to see Jess coming up with the team and cheering them on from the side lines. This made for some drastic team changes. Alex Finch was made captain for the day and true to form she motivated by leading by example putting in some incredible crunching tackles thoughout the afternoon.

Lizzie Leeming started as flanker and she had a splendid game playing out of position in the forwards for the first time. Megan Richardson played as tight head prop in place of Trevor and many thanks to her for taking on such a powerful opposite front row.

Verity Driver was moved to hooker but this still did not distract from the fact that she appeared to be everywhere on the pitch putting in tackle after tackle. The match kicked off and from the start Welwyn provided formidable opposition and some powerful running from their backs produced a score early on. We went straight back to attack from the kick off and after some excellent tackling limited the score to 20-0 at half time.

Our back line today played some good rugby trying to exploit what little weaknesses the opposition had. The half back combination of Beth Colman and Gemma Warren continued to work well together even though the opposing loose forwards put a huge amount of pressure on them. Our two centres Natalie McLoughlin and Amy Wilson Hardy played some sensible rugby against strong opposition and I feel played some of their best rugby together this season. Becky Goodman returned to her old position of full back and did not let the team down with some superb defensive work and good counter attacking. Our two wingers Sarah Longhurst and Charlie Lander put in a spirited performance and prevented tries as Welwyn exploited the overlap on more than one occasion.

For the second half Becky Harrison came on to play her first game for us and was a real asset to the team playing on the wing. Niki Lander also came on the wing and Megan Potter came in to help out the forwards.

The two wingers from the first half played the rest of the game as flankers after a reshuffle in the forwards. I believe to her amazement Charlie even enjoyed it as flanker because it certainly looked like it from the touchline. Sarah Longhurst got involved more in the game as flanker and kept the pressure on the opposing backs. The second half started with Worthing playing some of their best rugby of the match but after some resolute defending from Welwyn it appeared that there was no way through their defence.

Our line outs were working much better with some good catches from Phoebe Hale who later went to play wing replacing Niki Lander who unfortunately became injured early in the half. Emma Lee, Amee Swift and Lucie Kibblewhite played their hearts out in the tight and we managed to gain some much needed possession.

Welwyn scored a further four tries but in the last 5 minutes Worthing were rewarded a try for all their hard work during the game. The try was scored by Amy Wilson Hardy after some excellent support work from the rest of the team. The conversion taken by Becky Goodman sadly missed.

Thank you to all the parents that provided transport on the day which is very much appreciated. Thanks must go to the managers Debbie Hale and Steve Driver for organising the fixture, Paul Slimming for his perfect score keeping and to Glenn for his relentless work behind the scenes and for assisting in the coaching. Mark Potter thankfully was not worked too hard but as always this season provided a valuable contribution as physio. Moment of the match has been awarded to the incredible run up the touch line to celebrate Worthing’s try from Alex’s Mum. Hopefully that has been recorded on DVD.

Special thanks must go to the Welwyn coaching team and staff for producing such a strong side for us to play against in a well spirited match and also for their hospitality. It was an enjoyable day.

Scorers
Amy Wilson Hardy 1 try

Stingers
Emma Lee, Verity Driver, Megan Richardson, Amee Swift, Lucie Kibblewhite, Phoebe Hale, Lizzie Leeming, Alex Finch (c), Beth Coleman, Gemma Warren, Natalie McLoughlin, Amy Wilson Hardy (vc), Charlie Lander, Sarah Longhurst, Megan Potter, Niki Lander, Becky Harrison, Becky Goodman