U13 GIRLS WATERFALL CUP – ROUND 4
DORKING V COBHAM
The Dorking U13 Girls took a short trip up the road to Cobham RFC on Sunday 20 March for a Waterfall Cup game. Having been subjected to some very aggressive rucking and tackling the week before in a cross-group match v a combined Wimbledon/Battersea/Old Emanuels squad, the Dorking girls were looking to bounce back and re-build some confidence.
With a pitch set up on the main 1st XV pitch in front of the Cobham clubhouse in bright Spring sunshine, the girls had a good, focussed warm up and ran out with their heads up in positive mood. Instead of our usual “give us 10 mins and we’ll start playing”, the Dorking girls received the ball from the kick off and struck immediately, running forward with intent and moving the ball through hands to Millie, who stormed forward and scored on the wing.
Cobham were not to be outdone however and shortly afterwards they came back with a try of their own, scored by a fast runner who blasted her way through our defence. Opting to receive at the re-start, we fumbled the ball and they were all over us. Although we managed to make some headway up the field, it was done somewhat hesitantly and they snaffled the ball. Unsettled at the speed with which we’d gone from being the dominant team to one on the back foot, we lost our shape; our defensive line became bunched, we backed off instead of tackling and they scored again.
We decided to kick at the re-start and the strong chase that followed seemed to give us confidence. Although the run of play flowed both ways and our wavering defence allowed Cobham through a couple more times, the Dorking girls became more assertive, putting pressure on the opposition and forcing errors. Zoe, Sophie, Livvy, Amalie and Millie started to put in some highly effective tackles, Siena, Evie and Florence disrupted the opposition’s play and our rucking was much improved, not just by our stronger players but also by Ella, Lili and Livvy. With ball in hand, we made good inroads in their defensive line with Phoebe, Willow, Scarlett, Zoe and Ella all making strong runs. Support play ensured we kept possession and Zoe was able to dodge through on 3 occasions to score. At half time it was 4 tries apiece.
The second half started well with more dominant play from the Dorking girls. We started to break through the Cobham defence with Poppy, Amelia and Florence making darting runs and with Sophie, Amelie and Scarlett all needing 3 or 4 players to stop them making ground. Offloading out of tackles to team-mates running in support and moving the ball round to catch the opposition off-guard meant that Zoe scored twice more.
Resting on our laurels slightly perhaps, our attention wandered slightly and Cobham, to their credit, fought back. They put pressure on our ball carriers to win the ball and charged forward at speed to break through our tackles. Two tries followed bringing the scores level again.
The Dorking girls thought that Cobham had edged in front however (as did the Dorking coaches who were far too busy jumping up and down on the side lines to have monitored the scores accurately) and they were not prepared to accept defeat. Chasing kicks aggressively at the re-starts, pressurising the receivers, tackling, rucking and winning several penalties and scrums, they camped out in the opposition’s half. Lili, Phoebe and Scarlett all nearly scored, held back at the line by Cobham’s desperate defence but finally Zoe jinked her way through to score her 6th of the game.
Not realising they were 1 try ahead, the Dorking squad threw themselves into the last 3 minutes of the match. Running hard, taking contact and recycling the ball, they moved it around until if found Sophie, who powered over the line amid much cheering from the parents on the touchlines.
Final score Cobham 30 (6 tries) – Dorking 40 (8 tries). A great result from a closely-fought game played between two evenly matched teams who both demonstrated all the core values of rugby.
