Hertfordshire U15 Girls were runners up in the inaugural London and South East Division county rugby festival on Sunday, narrowly losing out to Kent in the final.
The first match in the pool round brought a 10 – 5 victory over Hampshire. In the opening minute the ball was moved quickly across the backs for wing Hannah Botterman to score in the corner. It was 5 – 0 at half time with Herts dominating the first half. Early in the second half Hampshire broke through with a long run to score. In the final play of the match scrum half Rosie Kay scored to give the Herts girls a nail-biting win.
The second match was a comprehensive 34 – 0 victory against Essex. Full back Katy Walker completed a hat trick, wing Beth Summerfield scored twice and fly half Zoe Harrison added a try and two conversions.
The final was delayed to 3.30pm, by which time the sun was beginning to set and the mist was beginning to crawl across the pitch. The girls were cold but gave their all in a hard, physical match against Kent which resulted in several injuries on both sides. In the first half Floss Jones had to come off after being barged in the face, and Hannah Botterman was sidelined with an ankle injury.
Play was frenetic and it was hard to discern much in the way of shape or pattern. Kent won much of the ball on the ground but the Herts girls' tackling in defence was ferocious. So even though Kent had more ball in hand, they couldn't do much with it. Kent scored first, in the dying minute of the first half, to take the score to 7 – 0 at half time. Herts evened the score eight minutes into the second half through a Zoe Harrison try, after winning a 5m scrum, which she then converted.
Two minutes from the end Kent elected to kick a penalty. It rattled around the posts and in the gloom the spectators on both sides were divided as to whether it had gone over. The man that mattered, the referee, decided it had. In the confusion Herts ran back to take a quick restart but were tackled by a Kent player – who presumably was equally confused. The 12-minute halves were too short for Herts to come back, though they kept fighting to the end. Final score was 10 – 7 to Kent in a close, feisty match which was a huge progression from the Herts girls' first match against the same opposition a month earlier. Herts gave Kent an almighty shock and a run for their money.
Afterwards coach Gareth Bowser said, “All the coaches were immensely proud of the girls. Each and every one of them did all we asked, and more. It was a fantastic team performance.
“We’d also like to thank sponsors ExL Driving School for providing the girls with Herts RFU polo shirts to wear after the match.”
Team: Harriet Austin, Fran Bannon, Louise Baxter, Sarah Blissett, Hannah Botterman, Katy Cook, Lucy Corrigan, Hayley Everett, Leanne Green, Zoe Harrison, Rosie Kay, Floss Jones, Aine McMahon, Emily Marsh, Ellena Perry, Kayleigh Read, Ella Sim, Megan Smith, Beth Summerfield, Kate Summerfield, Katy Walker.
