The
first game in the league format for Spalding was against the National 15’s
Finalist Tynedale. This was a hard fought match with both sides playing some
outstanding rugby with Spalding coming away with a 21 – 14 win.
The
2nd game saw Spalding take on Welwyn one of the favorites to win the
festival, both sides again gave 100% and the final outcome was a draw Spalding 5
– Welwyn 5
So
onto the final game and a quick calculation was needed to see where we finished
in the league. Spalding needed to win by a clear 17 points to come top of the
league and progress to the quarter-finals.
The match was against Burfield (Burton & Lichfield) following a quick
briefing from the Coaches family team Mike & Deborah Phillips the girls hit
the pitch running and it wasn’t long before the tries started to come in.
After some great team work the final score was Spalding 34 – Burfield 5. So
like North Hykeham SPALDING won their league to progress to the quarter-finals.
This
saw Spalding up against Egglescliffe who had come joint top of their league
dropping to 2nd on try count back following wins over Glove Flyers 43
– 0, Worcester 17 – 17 and a loss to London Irish 5 – 41. This was going
to be a hard match and again both teams just showed how far Girls Rugby as come
along. However the girls played outstanding and won with a score of 34 – 5.
The
hard work in the Quarter – Final showed when we reached the semi-final and it
took us time to get into the game, with our slow start Exeter put on the
pressure and scored 2 quick tries and converted 1 within the first 3 minutes.
However the girls heads didn’t go down and we started to fight back but the
good defense and discipline of Exeter was outstanding and we could just not
break their line to score,. With seconds to spare Exeter broke away and scored a
try in the corner to win; Spalding 0 – Exeter 19.
The
performance by both SPALDING & NORTH HYKEHAM puts the NLD well on the map
for girl’s rugby and we hope it encourages more girls to come along and join
one of the local clubs within the NLD who have Girls Teams.
If
you are interested in playing rugby please do not hesitate to contact the number below.
Deborah
Phillips 07951 960324
Email
Address mikeanddeb@btinternet.com