INNER WARRIOR SERIES TOURNAMENT
24 FEBRUARY 2024
Dorking Women joined 4 other teams from Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire on Saturday to take part in an Inner Warrior tournament. Hosted at Cranleigh RFC, the event was aimed at giving match time to clubs / teams with small playing squads and those with development players.
The tournament was played as a round robin with each team playing 4 x 20-minute matches – 10 mins each way with a 3-4 min break in the middle and no conversions. Despite some threatening clouds, the rain held off, but it had already had an impact. Both pitches were very “soft” and rapidly turned into a quagmire.
Our first match was the hardest, against a strong Horsham team who have grown quickly, like ourselves, and are looking to join a league next season. They had some good players, and being used to playing a longer game, we couldn’t get ourselves into gear quick enough. The match was hard-fought and finished on a 5 – 5 draw.
The second game was against Portsmouth Uni, a young and relatively inexperienced squad which just happened to feature three players with strong Dorking links. Despite some spirited play, it was a 25 – 5 win for the more experienced Dorking Women.
Our third game was against a Chichester & Burgess Hill cluster. Having sailed through the previous match, we were rather complacent in the first half but a few choice words from our coach in the break gave us the kick we needed. A much stronger second half resulted in a 10 – 0 win.
The final game was against a Cranleigh / Guildfordians cluster, featuring several of the latter’s former U18s. They put up a determined fight in the first half and came close to scoring on several occasions. The mud was taking its toll by this time however, sapping strength from the legs, and as “Cranfordians” tired, we were (reluctantly!) grateful for the strength and conditioning sessions that Dan M puts us through. We ran several tries in and despite a strong push from them in the final few minutes, our defence held firm and we won 25 – 0.
A successful day for the Dorking Women, whose small squad featured several less experienced players, and a great day for Women’s Rugby, giving some 80 players the chance to get competitive match experience.
