Rovers return with win

With rugby returning to some sort of normality following the Covid pandemic, it was nice to see two teams back in action. Rovers started the season with the short trip up the coast road to face their friends at Horden and Peterlee.

The game was played out on a lovely pitch with the warm autumnal sun shining down. For many a season Horden have had one of the strongest U18s girls teams in the northeast so Rovers were wary but not too much given the good preseason training they have had.

The game started and saw Horden playing a very traditional ‘ Hordenesque’ game of pick and go via their forwards in particular their hooker, no8 and 2nd row.
However they were met with a lot of heavy tackles through the likes of Katy Lennard, Jayme Calvert, Ellie Hay and Emily Carroll. These knocked the Horden forwards back and then began to gain us ball.

A turn over in midfield allowed the ball to be moved wide into space and find its way to Ebony Hunter who sprinted in for the opening try. It was similar for the second when Horden had all the possession but some strong defence allowed Katy Lennard to brake through and release Ellie Hay to score.

Once again Rovers' strong defence lead to a turn over and Captain Jessie Hewitt broke through the midfield to score. Connie had been off target with her first conversion attempts but nailed this one. A powerful run by Laymiah Renney was halted by a great tackle Abi Taylor was on hand to cleverly switch play to exploit space out wide for Emma Lamb to score under the posts. Connie added the extras.

The second half began with Horden coming out all guns blazing. Their effective pick and go game plan found rewards when they powered through to score a deserved try. The conversion was good.

Rovers were not done and bounced straight back with another 4 tries.

Rovers game plan was to get the ball wide and from a scrum the backs worked a clever midfield move which released Emma Lamb to score in the corner. This was followed by more of the same. A good drive and ball presentation by Maddie Cooper in the midfield saw openside flanker Riva Kraken in support to deliver a lovely delayed pass to Abi Taylor to run and score from the half way line. Ebony Hunter got a second with a trademark finish from inside her own half after Millie Railton released her with a well timed pass. The final try came from Ellie Hay showing a clean pair of heels to break away from her own half and score.

Final Score 7 - 44

The performance of the team impressed everyone who watched (and there was very good crowd watching). It was pleasing to see the younger players who have just moved to under 18s take the game in their stride. The teams ability to stick to ‘the game plan’ was great. The defence from Rovers was excellent with some strong tackling.
Horden, to their credit, never stopped trying.
Tougher challenges are ahead which will no doubt test the team but it was a cracking start to the season!

Training Thursday 6.00pm if any new players want to get involved. Next game is Sunday 3rd October away to Ryton