'Top of the Table' clash in the Girls Under18 National Cup

With an almost full squad, Market Harborough / Loughborough (MHL) travelled to Olney for a 'top of the table' clash in the Girls Under18 National Cup against Peterborough / Olney / Wellingborough (POW).

Both sides, with 8 Midlands players divided between them, started off determined to get the better of the opposition and secure a home semi-final in the area playoffs. POW started off quickly and on 4 minutes full back Tonisha Moss beat the defence on the outside and opened the scoring. Lucy Attwood duly converted. MHL immediately attacked from the restart and pressure on the POW line created a gap that scrum half, and captain for the day, Amy Relf duly accepted to score the second try of the game. Relf narrowly missed the conversion.

In the next 10 minutes, the teams cancelled each other out, neither side able to get an advantage until Moss again used her speed to break free and, despite a brave chase back by full back Emily Wetherill, scored out wide. Moss failed to convert the try. This spurred MHL on again and after an intense spell of pressure on the POW line, including several penalties for slowing the ball down, Leah Bartlett picked up 3 metres out and drove over. Relf added the extras to make the score 12 -12.

There was then a break of several minutes whilst a POW player was treated for an elbow injury. This seemed to break MHL's concentration and in the last 8 minutes of the half, POW scored 26 points with 2 tries from Moss, one from Attwood and one from Amelia Lavalee, 3 converted by Attwood, giving a half time score of 38-12.

A slightly shell shocked MHL regrouped at half time and restarted determined to keep better control of the game. Both team again played good rugby; however MHL were unlucky on several occasions where there was the chance to score, with the last pass going astray or the final tackle dislodging the ball. Half way through the second period, Relf got the ball on half way and weaved her way through the defence until a gap opened up and she used her speed to score her second try of the game. She added the conversion to bring the score to 38-19. 10 minutes later, Moss again outpaced the defence to score her 5th try of the game. The conversion was missed. The remainder of the match was played out with no further scoring, resulting in a win for POW 43-19. This gives MHL an away semi-final against Ashfield in February.

Congratulations to all the MHL players. Despite the loss, they played their hearts out, several playing out of position, but all performing with great credit.

MHLs team was
Hannah Walton, Leah Bartlett, Rose Smith, Kiah Hurn, Lucy Webster, Alice Liles, Tab Copson, Issy Drexler, Amy Relf, Ellie Turner, Meg Holland, Jasmine Eames, Fatima Choudhury and Emily Wetherill.