Mixed fortunes for Herts in opening county fixtures

In the first match of their county rugby season Hertfordshire U15 Girls suffered a defeat against Kent, losing by 32-3. The Hertfordshire team is drawn from six clubs across the county and this was the first time many of the girls had played a match together. There were some good individual contributions and the teamwork improved as the game went on and they got used to playing together. Hertfordshire scored first with a penalty kicked by Zoe Harrison. Kent then ran in four tries in the first half. The Hertfordshire girls injected more energy in the second half to limit Kent to just two more tries.

Team: Fran Bannon, Louise Baxter, Sarah Blissett, Hannah Botterman, Lucy Corrigan, Hayley Everett, Leanne Green, Zoe Harrison, Floss Jones, Rosie Kay, Georgia Ma, Aine McMahon, Emily Marsh, Ellena Perry, Megan Smith, Beth Summerfield, Kate Summerfield, Katy Walker.

In the U18s match Hertfordshire triumphed over their Kent opposition, winning 24-13.

Herts U18 v Kent 2011 - free slideshow

Kent put the Hertfordshire girls under pressure right from the start, which resulted in an early penalty that Kent slotted over the bar. Just before half time Hertfordshire’s Vicci Cogger, playing in her first county under 18s game, scored a try which was converted by Abbie Maxwell. In the second half Kent scored two tries and Hertfordshire scored three: one by Liz Crake and two by Lotte Clapp. Shira Kilgallon added a conversion.

Team: Marie Beaufils, Oren Blindell, Lotte Clapp, Victoria Cogger, Jade Cooper, Scarlett Cooper-Wall, Elizabeth Crake, Emily Davis, Becky Dawson, Charlie Faloona, Ruth Flory, Melissa Gargaro, Sydnie Grace, Sydney Gregson, Shira Kilgallon, Abbie Maxwell, Rachel McCullough, Bryony Pomfret, Kate Sellars, Olivia Stembridge.

Herts Senior team lost 15-12 to Kent (no match report yet!)


Other county results

Middlesex County Festival: U12 match

"Middlesex" U12 Girls 20, "Hertfordshire" 15.

After everything that had gone before it was great to finally see this fixture start - and what an excellent game is was. The Herts team was completely different from the one that played at Rochford - but this means that the U12s have fielded 12 girls so far this season, with at least another two in the squad who have yet to play. If only we could get them all together what a team at the same time we would have!

Anyway, our opponents - "Middlesex" - were provided by Ealing, who have a squad of over a dozen U12 girls and are clearly going to be the name to look for in girls rugby over the next few years. All coming from a single club, they worked very well together - but the Herts team, with only a few minutes to prepare as a team, matched them in most parts of the game. An even first half ended at two tries each, and the score stayed at 10-10 until well into the seconf half thanks to some heroic defence by Herts, the hosts crossing the Herts line on three occasions but being unable to get the ball down each time.

Eventually the deadlock was broken, but a swift Herts response - with superb support and inter-passing - brought the scores level at 15-15. A break down the left with only two minutes to go then put Middlesex ahead again, a lead they held onto until the final whistle.

Hopefully the next U12 game will be on the 18th... we have opponents, we just need a venue!

Middlesex County Festival: U15 Tournament

Herts U15's entered two Teams into a Festival for the first time and a total of 32 Girls (from Saracens, Hertford and Welwyn) represented the Herts A and B (Development) teams today. In total there were 5 County Teams playing in the Middlesex Festival who played each other in a round robin:

Results affecting Herts U15 Teams:
Herts A 17 (Clare Shutler Tx1 Cx1 Georgia Peedle Tx2) East Midlands 0
East Midlands 10 Herts B 12 (Jo Busch Tx2 Abbi Maxwell Cx1)
Herts A 21 (Sam Voyle Tx1 Alice Finn Tx1 Georgia Peedle Tx1 Clare Shutler Cx3) Middlesex 0
Hampshire 24 Herts B 0
Herts A 0 Hampshire 5
Herts A 35 (Courtney Arberry Tx1 Cx2 Clare Shutler Tx1 Cx3 Lotte Clapp Tx1 Alice Finn Tx1 Shira Kilgallon Tx1) Herts B 0
Middlesex 19 Herts B 0


Tournament Final Standings:
Winners: Hampshire
Runners Up: Herts A
3rd: Middlesex
4th: Herts B
5th: East Midlands

Match report forms - in case you have forgotten

In their latest mailing RFUW remind all clubs that it is "vital to fill in and return Match Report Forms".

The forms are important. Its not a case of an over officious centre wanting to run everything - RFUW are heavily reliant on outside funding and they have to show grant providers how much rugby is being played, and how many clubs and players are taking part.

It is the responsibility of the home team to return any forms, which can be downloaded here.

Herts U17s shine at inter-county sevens

Hertfordshire's U17 girls did the county proud today, battling back from an apparently impossible position to akmost steal the four-county sevens tournament held at Old Albanians as a curtain raiser for the England/Scotland international.

They began the tournament looking very like the scratch team that they were. Unlike Eastern Counties, and possibly other teams, Herts had had no pre-tournament training and had been selected on the basis of the first ten girls to step forward.

In practice it wasn't a bad side on paper, but based on the first half of their first pool game against Surrey you'd have thought they had barely met before. 10-0 down at half time required sharp words and rapid team changes (Megan Williams coming on - and staying on for the rest of the tournament!), and a revitalised Herts then clawed their way back into the game to finish with a 10-10 draw.

The next game against Eastern Counties saw a better performance, but no points on the board by either side at half time - Hannah Marques just going into touch in the corner before the whistle. However, Herts finally broke through in the second half to win fairly comfortably 10-0.

The final game was against an under-strength Essex - but again Herts fell asleep, and were 10-0 down minutes into the first half. Rousing themselves they pulled level by the interval and the injection of fresh legs in the second half saw the girls in green storm away to win 25-10 - thus securing first place in the pool. Second place was a near run thing, Surrey only denying Eastern Counties by snatching a draw just before the end.

So two unbeaten teams met in the final on the main pitch. An early score by Herts was quickly cancelled out and with our girls making a series of dreadful handling errors half time came with Surrey holding a commanding - some said unassailable - 20 points to 5 lead.

But Herts weren't finished. A far better second half showing saw the Surrey lead gradually whittled away. With the clock ticking down the score drew level, and then Herts snatched what seemed a dramatic winner - 25-20 with less than a minute left!

But Surrey were not finished. Almost straight from the restart they drew level, and as the clock ran down it was Surrey who were battering on the Herts line. The last play of the game seemed to have the Herts defence overwhelmed - until Megan intercepted a pass virtually on her own line, dodged and sprinted the length of the field to touch down and "win" a hugely exciting sevens game.

Unfortunately the final horn had been blown - and under the unusual the rules of the event the game ended when time ran out, not when the ball went dead, so the game was declared a draw.

But Herts U17s remain unbeaten at sevens - and we've beaten Surrey before!

A photographic look back at Westcliff

Dozens of pictures of all kinds can now be viewed on this commercial photography site.

Click on Rugby / Westcliff / 2006 / Essex Girls Rugby Festival.

U14s take the honours as U17s fall at final hurdle

Westcliff RFC in Essex hosted the "Essex County Tournament" today with Hertfordshire providing three teams, as they did at Hitchin last year. But this was a much bigger affair with six teams competing in each age group.

In Pool B the U17s Hertfordshire Barbarians could not quite match the glories of last year when the "B" string famously defeated Oxfordshire, but they certainly ran Thames Valley county champions Buckinghamshire close, going down 10-5 to a try in the final seconds before giving Essex a scare or two in a 10-0 defeat.

The main county squad, on the other hand, took Pool A with some ease - though Yorkshire put up a huge battle before going down 7-0. Eastern Counties showed some real promise - but in the first ever competitive game could not hold the Herts girls who ran out 22-0 winners.

Meanwhile the U14s won their group by first beating a physically large Bucks U14 team 19-5 with tries from Courtney Arberry, Sam Voyce and Sydnie Grace, and Clare Shutler adding two Conversions. They then beat Eastern Counties (Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambs) 31-0 with Clare Shutler scoring three Tries and three Conversions, and other Tries from Megan Childs and Millie Porter.

With Essex U14 and U17 winning their groups it was going to be the local rivals against each other in both finals. But before that "Barbarians" played off against Eastern Counties - but after a break and their earlier heroics they were distinctly slow out of the starting stalls and 12-0 before the game was more than a few minutes old. A much better second half performance restricted the Easterns to only one more try, however.

So to the finals, and the U14s were on first. All previous U14 games between Herts and Essex have been extremely close and this was exactly the same. Essex scored an early Try, which they converted to go 7-0 up. Herts then scored Tries from Clare Shutler, which she converted, and Alice Nee to lead 12-7 at the break. In a very tense second half, Herts defence withstood the Essex onslaught and crucially Milly Porter just won a sprint to the Herts try line, following a perfectly judged Essex kick, to prevent the home side evening up the score.

So that was one-nil to Herts. Could the U17s complete the double?

At half time it looked certain that they would. They went into the break 5-0 up, and it could easily have been a much larger lead as Herts had dominated pretty much all phases of play. But a very different side seemed to start the second period which took place entirely within the Herts half. An Essex pack that had been going backwards suddenly seemed to win every scrum, whoever had the put in, and most of the lineouts too. The home side's confidence grew with every phase, and in the end a Herts defensive line that had stood definant and unbroken for two years finally broke. With the scores level the final play was a Herts lineout on their own 5m line - and it was in the end no surprise to see it stolen and an Essex forward crash over for winning score.

And so it was only the U14 Herts Captain Clare Shutler who could lift a Winners trophy for the county in the clubhouse afterwards. But however disappointing the outcome was for the U17s, they had still played well throughout most of the tournament until the final few minutes - and the Barbarians had again shown the incredible depth of talent in the county.

County teams dominant at Oxon tournament

Hertfordshire's county teams produced faultless performances at Sunday's tournament at Grove in Oxfordshire.

Oxfordshire had clearly gone to great lengths to put the event together at very short notice - four weeks ago it wasn't on anyone's calendar at all! The loss of Herts proposed fixture with Bucks was the spark, and Oxfordshire's agreement to step into the breach - combined with the willingness of Essex and Middlesex to relocate their fixture 100 miles or so west - resulted in an excellent afternoon's rugby, and a perfect "warm-up" to the Main Event at Westcliff next month.

And it was our girls who dominated the day - which is remarkable when you consider that most of their opponents have been playing together competitively for some weeks, or even months in Essex's case.

At Under 17 level a brave Oxfordshire side were unfortunately no match for the speed and flair of the Herts team who ran in some 40 unanswered points before an injury forced an early closure in the second half.

Essex were expected to be a tougher opposition - with their pack looking particular big. But after their initial attack was repulsed Herts gradually increased their dominance and eventually ran out 15-0 winners.

Herts U14 Girls deservedly won their four County Tournament by first class defending which achieved a shut-out against the three sides they played. The team was well led by Clare Shutler who was presented with the winner’s trophy afterwards.

In the first game Herts beat hosts Oxfordshire 22-0 with tries from Clare, Emma Wilson, Sam Voyle and Alice Nee, the latter two also making notable crunching tackles on the opposition. Clare also converted a try.

In the second game against arch-rivals Essex, Clare was the key difference and her try gave Herts a hard fought 5-0 win.

In the final game Herts were 0-0 at half-time with Middlesex, until Courtney Arberry took the game by the scruff of the neck with her exceptional tackling and then scoring two tries. Becky Dawson added a late third try and the game ended 15-0 to Herts.

• Interesting fact: Not only are out U17s still unbeaten (at both XV-a-side and 7-a-side) since they were formed last season, but no-one has yet scored at try against in the larger sided game!
• And the U14s have also won every full-sided game they have played to date, though they did conceed one try last year. Their record is marred by a single 7s defeat to a "Surrey" team that actually included several Herts players...