Old Alleynians RFC

Sunday the 5th December saw Old Alleynian U18 girls taking on Medway U18 girls in the 5th league match of the season. 

OA's went into the match with high confidence having seen a steady improvement that had left them unbeaten since the first match of the season. Medway too arrived full of confidence with both sides fielding full teams albeit reduced due to illness and injury. 

2nd v 3rd in the league, a good number of supporters from both sides, the scene was set for a good match.

OA's started the stronger of the two sides and within the first 10 minutes were two tries to the good, without Medway having possession of the ball.  They were playing good pattern rugby, recycling the ball and moving the ball wide which was surprising given the cold and wet conditions. OA's maintained their dominance for the remainder of the first half, only switching off twice to let Medway in with two scores against the run of play. Another try by OA's saw them the deserved leaders at the halftime break.

The 2nd half saw a rejuvenated Medway playing a completely different game that for a while looked like it was going to lead to a reversal of fortunes for the OA girls, spending a significant amount of time in their own 22 defending a prolonged wave of Medway attacks. However a drop ball and a kick forward relieved the pressure and another try from OA's saw the Medway girls' heads drop. The rest of the half was keenly contested by both sides with OA's scoring another two tries to Medways one. 34 - 15 was the final score with a well deserved win by the OA's girls who had forwards playing in the backs and a scrum half having to play on the wing. Also no substitutes meant all the girls had to play on through knocks and bangs. Every player had to step up to enable this performance to take place and it would be wrong to pick out individuals for praise in what was a team performance in every sense of the phrase. OA's cemented their position in 2nd place in the league with four wins in five. 

Try scorers were Daisy Cleaver (2); Ruby Copeland (2); Polly Roberts (1); Blue Petit-Jean (1); 

Conversions Elsie Fairn (2)