November to remember for U13 Girls

The u13 girls finished November with a perfect record of played 6 won 6, tries for 35 tries against 11. On Sunday we played Gosford All Blacks from Oxford. Gosford are the main girls’ club in their area, drawing players from a number of feeder clubs. They have an impressive set-up and had beaten our u15s in the first round of the cup.
The Olney squad was Mimi (captain), Bethany, Eva, Evie, Ella, Hollie, Molly, Hattie, Nancy, Freyja, Madeleine and Lucy making her debut after a long injury delay.
The girls kicked off, resplendent in their new sponsored shirts and applied the thumbscrews immediately. In the first quarter Ella drove the ball in on several occasions playing with the fire we’d been hoping for. Her ability to nick the ball in a three girl scrum also turned defence into attack throughout the game.
The girls continued their offloading style, sometimes to excess, but the opposition were unable to handle phase after phase of play. Hattie crashed over after 3 minutes, the first of four tries for her on the day. It’s impossible to overstate the player she has become over the summer and the player she could be. She was the all round forward on Sunday, looking for work and hitting the opposition back at every chance. Olney scored again within a minute via Hollie, who played her usual rampaging loose forward role. Eva then showed lightning feet to stand up two opposition players to cross. The quarter ended with Nancy, rapidly becoming one of the most influential players despite her age, driving over to make it 4-0. She could consistently take three opposition players to stop her runs and her work rate is astonishing.
The second quarter saw Gosford fight back and show some real promise, their scrum half throwing some huge spin passes wide. Her opposite number, Evie, had another excellent game for Olney, powering through midfield and making some excellent cover tackles. Hattie opened the scoring again from a set move with Mimi closing the quarter with her first score. Mimi continues to be one of the most complete players seen at this level. Line breaks, big tackles, offensive and defensive kicks and excellent game sense are all there. If she and a number of the other girls don’t go onto higher things in future years it would be astonishing. Lucy made a fine debut, showing real promise and covering a lot of ground.
In the third quarter Hattie, surprise surprise, opened the scoring although this time it took her 7 minutes. This was followed by the try of the game when Eva fielded the kick off deep in her own 22, put on the afterburners and carved through 5 opponents to score. Eva also added a number a kicks to her game this time, pegging the opposition back. To have one decent kicker at this level is great, to have two is an embarrassment of riches.
The rest of the quarter saw Bethany held up agonisingly short and then penalised for a double movement. With more luck she could’ve had a few tries, but more than compensated for this with some excellent edge defence. What was particularly notable was her ability to step away from her wing into support when the touch line threatened. Simple perhaps, but essential.
Olney conceded their only try late in the quarter by trying the offload once too often. The pass went astray into in goal and, despite a brave effort by Lucy to ground it, was pounced upon by Gosford.
The final quarter saw some hard yards from Molly, playing despite being unwell and proving a real handful. Madeleine played like a rugby league standoff, tracking across midfield and tempting the opposition centres, then either making the break or putting a killer pass in. Freyja, playing as a junior Hattie, thumped into the opposition and showed great potential for the future. Fittingly the final try was scored by Hattie, taking a crash ball and driving 10 metres for the line. Final score 9-1.
An excellent performance by the girls, playing as a real team. This was no walkover opposition, but they never had an attacking sniff of our line. Some of our rucking could’ve been better, but that would be to split hairs. Next Sunday we play old rivals Towcester at home.