Impressive Rovers push Ryton close

Rovers u18s travelled to Ryton to take part in the Ryton festival. Rovers were looking forward to the festival as they had not faced Ryton yet this season and they wanted to test themselves.

Ryton played a Bishop/Barnie/Houghton side in the first game with Rovers watching on and the girls knew they needed to play well to compete.

Rovers kicked off in terrible conditions with heavy rain and a low temperature. Ryton were straight in to the game and applied a lot of pressure from their strong running forwards. Rovers tackled everything that was thrown at them and looked organised in defence applying a lot of pressure to stop the ball getting to the Ryton dangerous backs. Amy Kirby and Kristen were at the fore with tackling supported by Olivia and Ellie R. Having weathered the early storm Rovers started to see a bit of the ball with Jay, Libby, and Sophie D running hard. The continuity was good with Rovers holding onto the ball in tough conditions and Mia S feeding Ellie good ball the backs were beginning to make in roads. Nicole and Grace were almost away only to be stopped by Ryton tackles.

The break through did come not long before half time. Carries from Rebekah and Sophie, Jay with good clearing out from Amy, Olivia and Adele allowed Mia to feed Ellie again. Ellie's safe hands moved the ball to Kristen who burst through the midfield to out pace the covering defence to go over for a try. The conversion was tricky and unsuccessful. This gave the Rovers girls confidence in their own ability something they have lacked against stronger teams.

Rovers had the momentum and were starting to put some good phases together. However Ryton were always going to get back into the game but the strong defence held firm. The first half ened with an injury to Ryton scrum half Anna. We have heard that the injury wasn't as serious as first though and Anna is recovering well. We wish Anna a speedy recovery and want to see her back on the pitch soon.

The second half began with Rovers once again taking the game to Ryton. But Ryton showed why they are one of the top teams in the North of England with a try of their own which was converted - 5 - 7. Rovers attacked again through a trademark powerful run from Sophie but when a try scoring pass to Grace went astray Ryton capitalised and moved the ball out wide for another try and they converted - 5 - 14. Rovers suffered a sucker punch again when the Ryton 8 broke from the base of the scrum to power over. The conversion was missed to make the score 5 - 19.

At this point the Rovers of old would have rolled over. Ryton would have gone on to score more points and Rovers would have left the pitch feeling sorry for themselves. But this is a new Rovers with resilience. They went back on the attack again and Sophie D scored a try to make the final score 10 - 19. But more importantly 2 tries to 3 to Ryton.

Well done to Ryton on the win in an excellent game of rugby. And it was just that....an excellent game of rugby. Both teams fully committed and playing some excellent rugby.

For Rovers this was a massive confidence boost to come so close to a strong team like Ryton. At one point we thought Rovers might have got something from the game but Ryton were just that little bit too strong.

The Rovers players all put a shift in, tackled their hearts out, hit every ruck, had good continuity and for long periods frustrated Ryton. Ryton have around 12 girls in the CoE which shows their quality but Rovers gave them a scare and the Rovers girls need to build on this momentum in the run up to the National Cup group game against another good side, Horden.

The second and final game was against a Bishop/Houghton/Barnie combined side. Just to get the excuses out of the way...the girls were cold and wet, we lost a couple players to injury, they were tired from the mammoth task of the first game. Truth is B.H.B fully deserved their win. They were the more committed team, made fewer mistakes, and Rovers inability to tackled helped their cause. Something the girls need to work on is don't take any game for granted...

A big thank you to Ryton for hosting on Sunday. Hospitality, as usual, top draw. A thank you to all of our players and supporters for making the trip north.

Next up is Billingham Christmas festival on the 9th December.