East U14s v East Midlands: Match report

U14 regional coach Simon Shutler reports:

Contrary to the RFUW website and email, the East U14's actually beat the East Midlands in another very cold day up north, and this is how...

East Captain Claire won the toss and elected to receive from the kick off. EM chose to play with a strong wind at their back in the first half and with the slope of the pitch favouring them. The East game plan in the first half was not to kick the ball away but keep it in hand and drive into the wind. From the kick-off they did this and kept possession and play around halfway. Unfortunately they turned the ball over and were penalised for handling on the ground. EM took a quick tap and were tackled, but East were penalised for not being 10m. EM took another quick tap and ran in to the corner to score.

Captain Claire gathered her team together and from the kick-off they recovered the ball and drove into the EM 22. From the resulting scrum Layla took the ball blind and Yas backing up was tackled just short of the line. Further East pressure caused EM to concede a penalty. East took the scrum option and Charlotte was able to run in and score out wide.

EM kicked off and again East kept the ball in possession on halfway, unfortunately they again conceded a penalty in the same position as before and a replay of the initial try happened in conceding a penalty being penalised for not being 10m and then seeing EM run into the corner again.

However, heads did not drop and from the kick-off the East recovered the ball, Anna made a break and found Alex, who held off an EM defender and headed for the line, to be brought down just short. Yas backing up took the pass to score.

The second half was a different game, East backs were much more fluent in their running and passing.A scrum on halfway saw the ball come left and Charlotte broke free to score her second try.

The East with the wind on their backs were able to retain possession and put pressure on the EM line. Stout defending kept them out, until the EM conceded a penalty in front of the posts. East elected to scrum and lined up single file behind it to confuse the defence. The move did not quite work as planned but the ball was quickly recycled for Sam to score.

East again worked the ball into the EM 22 and pressured the line, unfortunately they lost the ball under the posts and the EM countered moving the ball to their quick wing, who ran the length of the pitch to score under the posts.

East from the kick-off keep possession and wok the ball into the EM 22. From a resulting scrum the ball is worked right, Sam is stopped but the ball is recycled and passed out for Charlotte to again score in the corner.

A great result by the squad with some fantastic passages of play. The coaches will be working on some aspects of play before the next games but the girls did everything that was asked of them.