U14 Grizzlies vs Dorking, Sunday 3rd March 2024

Match Report – U14 Grizzlies vs Dorking

Sunday 3rd March 2024

Guildford 29 Dorking 5

With the volume of rain in the past week, it was impressive – and a testament to hard work by the club’s operations team – that we were even able to play rugby on Sunday morning.  But the pitches were in surprisingly good shape, and the bright sunshine soon melted the frost on the grass and dispelled the patches of fog in plenty of time for our Cup match to start.

Having lost narrowly to Dorking in a friendly match earlier in the season, we knew that we had our work cut out.  The opening passages of play confirmed this, with Dorking breaking down their left wing to score the opening try, with just 5 minutes on the clock.

But Guildford (in our usual cluster with Camberley) soon fought back, with multiple phases of play leading to a try from Darcey, evening up the scores at 5-5.   And after a few minutes, Lola picked up the ball from the base of a ruck and broke away across half the pitch to score under the posts.  Lily F added the conversion, taking the score to 12-5.

The game continued in competitive fashion, but there was no further score before half time.   And after the break, there was again no let-up, with both teams putting pressure on the other’s try-line but unable to score.  Dorking camped in our 22 for several minutes, but despite repeated attempts, our girls’ determined defence prevented them from crossing the line.

With both teams looking tired, the final 10 minutes saw more gaps appearing in the wide channels.  Lola exploited this with another strong run downfield, and managed to get a pass away to Lily F who ran round the defence to score in the corner, making it 17-5 to the home team.   A few minutes later, Phoebe added another try to the scoreboard, taking the tally to 22-5.   And then with just one minute left, Millie received a Dorking kick and ran it back from deep, breaking several tackles before being stopped just short of the line.  Although we lost the ball in the next phase, our captain Eira secured it back at the next ruck and had the strength to drive over the line.  With Lily F adding the conversion, the match ended at 29-5.

A great display of rugby by the girls, with impressive tackling on both sides and no weak links.  Players of the match (selected by the opposition) were Abi at 8, and Lola at 15.

James Ward

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