Beccles U18s V Diss Rfc Vixen U18s

Match Report
5/1/20
Beccles U18s v Diss Vixen U18s

The New year sees the Vixens away at Beccles, unfortunately the end of the holidays affecting numbers with our opposition only able to field 7 players.
With 11 vixens this afforded us the luxury of subs.
Starting on a full pitch the Girls started 2020 with a bang! Their 1st try passing through all 7 pairs of hands before Ruby dots down.
The next few minutes sees more of the same the vixens exploiting space moving the ball quickly with Ella then Niamh crossing the line.
Extras to these were added from the boot of Megs.
Beccles fight on tackling hard but lack of game time showing as the Vixens aggressive rucking snuffing out any counter attack, turning over the ball & quickly out through the hands sees Ellie away & under the posts.
At this point the decision was made to play on half pitch to A give the Vixens less space to run & more of a challenge & B so we didn’t lose any players in the swamp at the end of the pitch.
Underway again the Diss girls rejig their game plan & are soon back to scoring try’s with Amie & Murran both crossing the line & Ellie,Ruby & Ella adding to their tally.
Something in these Girls has clicked & they are now playing proper controlled rugby the forwards settling into their roll of contesting the ruck & cutting down attack especially in the midfield areas, supplying clean ball for our back line before popping up again in support. This hard work can often go unnoticed so well done today Sophie,Alex,Steph & Beth who worked hard all game.
With a one of the Beccles girls taking a knock Megs & Niamh both had a stint on the opposition side with Megs finding the line twice & Niamh once reminding the Diss girls don’t give your your opponents space to run.
The Beccles girls should be proud of their efforts today as they never gave up & with the help of Megs & Niamh looked a lot more structured by the end of the game beaten by a Vixen team playing as one for each other with aggression & speed & most importantly smiling faces.
Often giving a Pom award after a game is pretty easy either for an individual piece of skill or effort so it’s testament to the way the U18s are playing at the moment that it’s a tough choice & could be any one of them!! however today it’s Ruby who I feel had lost a bit of spark through last season & the beginning of this but last game & again today the Ruby of old has re-emerged, deft ball handling & stepping through seemingly impossible gaps in defence & the deceptive turn of pace that leaves defenders flailing in her wake.
Well done Ruby & the 18s great start to the New Year.