Market Harborough / Loughborough U18s win by 3 points

On a cold January afternoon at Oakham RFC, MHL took on Ashfield. With both sides depleted in numbers, the game was played 10-a side. Credit to both teams for putting on a terrific game of rugby.

MHL played to Ashfield's strength in the first half running the ball up the centre of the pitch allowing the bigger Ashfield girls to tackle to their hearts' content. MHL did open the scoring after 8 minutes when captain Ellie Turner pounced on a loose ball 35 metres out and scampered over. The missed conversion left the score at 5-0. From the KO, untidy play by Ashfield gave away the ball on the L wing. Good interplay between Lucy Gardner and Emily Wetherill saw Wetherill tackled 5m short of the line, but a pop pass to Jasmine Eames doubled MHL's lead. Again the conversion was missed.

MHL were now guilty of untidy play at the KO receipt, giving away a penalty; this was taken quickly by the Ashfield captain, who although stopped short was able to present the ball for a teammate to crash over. With a successful conversion the score was now 10-7.

A penalty against Ashfield for infringing at a ruck on MHL's 10m line led to the next try. MHL kicked for touch and missed. Turner was quickest to react and beat the defence to the ball, hacked forward twice to take the ball into the goal area and touch down. The 3rd missed conversion gave MHL a 15-7 lead.

Ashfield then hit a purple patch and in the next 10 minutes pressurised MHL into mistakes and missed tackles, allowing them to score 3 tries and 2 conversions to take a half time lead of 15-26.

MHL changed tactics in the second half and decided to try and tire out the bigger Ashfield girls by putting in a series of high, long kicks, forcing Ashfield to run back and defend. MHL's first try in the second half came from such a long kick. Ashfield retrieved the ball but MHL arrived in numbers and drove over, winning possession. Tab Copson saw a gap, picked up at the base and ghosted past the widely space guards to go in under the posts. Ellie Turner converted to close the gap. Three minutes later, MHL were back in the lead. Another long kick was retrieved but with MHL pressurising the defence, a big tackle by Rose Smith dislodged the ball straight into winger Fatima Choudhury's hands. A quick run round the final defender produced her first try of the season. The conversion attempt by Turner was successful to give a score of 29-26.

Some untidy play by both sides led to several scrums in midfield for mishandling, probably due to cold hands as the temperature dropped rapidly. From a scrum on halfway, Ashfield moved the ball to the right wing and 5 missed tackles allowed a further try and conversion, Ashfield retaking the lead 29-33. At the next Ashfield attack, the ball was passed behind the player, and when Eames tried to get to it was pulled back for a MHL penalty. After a couple of phases, the ball was shipped to Eames whose speed took her wide of the tiring defence and under the posts. The kick slipped just passed the post, giving MHL a narrow 1 point lead at 34-33.

Both sides cancelled the other out for the next quarter until, with 2 minutes left, Choudhary got the ball well inside her own half. Heading rapidly up the wing, she saw her way cut off and cleverly cut inside passed another two defenders and broke through to score under the posts. With Turner's 3rd successful conversion, MHL were 8 points to the good with one minute left. Credit to Ashfield who didn't give up. A knock on from the restart gave a scrum just outside the 22, won by Ashfield. The ball was moved left and after some good MHL defence, Ashfield saw a narrow opening and dived over for the final try of the game. The conversion from the touchline was missed leaving the final score of 41-38 to MHL. Well done also to Issy Drexler, Meg Holland and Alice Liles for some great play.