Stafford u16s Roses travelled to Lichfield on Sunday for the 2nd Staffordshire cup fixture.

The first 10 minutes saw the majority of play take place in the middle third of the pitch with a lot of handling errors leading to an unusual number of successive scrums so early in the game. However, after the initial period Stafford started to grow into the game and a loose pass from Lichfield was kicked through by Evie who used her football skills to dribble the ball over the line and touched down for the opening score, Connie added the conversion. From the re-start Stafford put Lichfield under pressure and the forwards gained control of the ball in the opposition 22. A series of rucks then saw Izzy break through, shrug off some would be Lichfield tackles and dive over the try line for the 2nd score. Stafford then started to concede breakdown penalties for not rolling away and handling in the ruck which gained Lichfield their first foothold in the Stafford half. Valiant defending from Stafford kept Lichfield at bay but they kept conceding penalties defending their own goal line. Eventually Lichfield passed the ball wide and a missed tackle saw the opposition center score out wide.

That score seemed to spark Stafford back into life and they won a scrum against the head. Eve picked up from number 8 and stormed down the blind side. She was tackled in the 22 but Stafford rucked the ball well and fed the ball down the backs and Tori finished the move off touching down the in the left and corner. With time running out in the first half Stafford were pilling the pressure onto Lichfield. A Lichfield scrum in there own 22 again saw the Stafford forwards push the opposition pack backwards and a rushed pass from the scrum half saw the ever alert Evie on hand to snatch the interception and race between the posts for Staffords 4th try of the first half, Connie added the extra points. First half ended with Stafford leading 5 – 24

Lichfield scored a converted try at the start of the second half catching the Stafford girls a bit cold and not concentrating. However, Stafford started to regain their dominance and after 14 minutes Evie completed her hattrick with a mazy run from the left which ended up with her touching down under the posts, Evie then added the conversion. Five minutes later Anya finished off a wonderful team try by diving in at the far right hand corner. Stafford continued to pile the pressure on a tiring Lichfield who were now struggling to get out of their own half. After being held up on the Lichfield line the goal line dropout was gathered by Ava on the 22. She then ran it straight back and scored between the posts from where the kick had been taken, Somehow Evie missed the simple conversion ( ? ). The match finished with a score line of 12 – 43 to Stafford.

It was a good performance from Stafford with the forwards being particularly strong in the tackle as well as the breakdown. Lilly, Eve, Ava and Izzy all had exceptional games and in the backs Evie and Connie controlled the game and Esme contributing with some good strong straight running carries. Stafford did give away a few too many penalties at the breakdown and there was a lot of sideways running from the backs but these are just small things that we can work on in training over the next few sessions before the challenge of Crewe & Nantwich in the National cup on the 19th November.

Looking forward to seeing you all at training and wishing Hanna a speedy recovery from what now turns out to be a fractured hip injury sustained in the match a against Oswestry.

See you all at Training
Mark