U13s Girls on Front Foot with Newark Teammates

A cold, windy and sleety Notts Moderns played host to the latest NLD girls cluster play date.

The U13 Minxes partnered with girls from Newark (forming “Newbourne”) and were soon in action against Notts Moderns in their first game.

Getting off to a tentative start, Newbourne were soon a try down but gradually grew into the game as the Girls worked out how to work with each other. As confidence grew so too did their rugby and with some committed carries from Emily and Alicia and some feisty pick and gos from Eleanor up the centre channels Newbourne started to get on the front foot and scored. Defensively the Girls began to get stuck in, using good line speed to shut down the opposition time and space. The Newark Girls started to put in some strong tackles and the Melbourne Girls then exploded through the ruck to secure the ball.

Notts Moderns came back at Newbourne and scored again but the Girls would not lie down and then proceeded to score three more tries to close the game out at 4-2 to Melbourne.

The second game saw Newbourne play a Donington/Chesterfield baabaa side and despite the size difference this didn’t stop the attacking play and determination from the last game. Good handling by Annabelle with good support running from Amy soon got Melbourne on the score sheet. The girls had listened to coach James and more turn over ball in several rucks. Newark girls contributed well and put in some cracking tackles and Olivia was often there stepping in to pass the ball out down the line to the wings. The game finished 5-2 Melbourne.

The last game was against Donington Diamonds and it was clear that for the opposition this was a must win game when as the game stalled at 1-1, they called across a ringer from their other team to do some damage through hard physical runs targeting defenders. The Girls held fast and the tackling really stepped up under this attacking pressure. Donington had another shock when their strike runner targeted Evie - who took the collision, ripped the ball and accelerated away to score.

The Donington players and coach were now getting worried by the Newbourne performance and borderline attacking runs resulted in a try to pull them level at 2-2.

The Girls then gave as good at they got but the weight of pressure eventually saw a third try for Donington on the stroke of full time.

Overall a hugely improved performance that impressed both the coaches and supporters (and opposition). Well done to all the Girls and it was great to see the camaraderie between the Melbourne and Newark players who all really displayed the core values of our wonderful sport.