Whits Saffron Stormers U14s combined with Ruts Tigers U14s to make a milestone for Old Whits by playing the first all-female match at Croham Manor Road in the 129-year history of the club when they welcomed Dorking for their Waterfall cup game.

Dorking started well, taking advantage of Whits inexperience and lack of familiarity playing together. The visitors moved the ball from side to side, stretching the home side defence but the W&R defence scrambled to cover, making some excellent tackles with Rebekah B particularly impressive stopping a dangerous attack down the left wing in the first minute of the match.

A scrum to the away side then led to another attack down the same wing. With the attackers having a 2 on 1, Eliana’s crucial tackle stopped a certain try. This was followed up by a crucial tackle from Rebekah B again who stopped the Dorking supporting runner as she crossed the line, dislodging the ball in the process.

The home team were struggling to exit their 22 thanks to some tenacious tackling but finally the ball fell to Nevaeh, playing at prop, who carried the ball out of the 22, dragging several defenders with her. The gaps that opened in the Dorking defence as a result gave W&R the opportunity to clear their lines through some strong running from the backs. Metre by metre W&R were progressing up the field against the hill and the wind with some great handing and quick support at the breakdown giving their runners the opportunity to gain ground. Alyssa made 10 metres through the opposition defence with a powerful run and set up quick ball to start another phase. Bonnie followed, showing great skill and strength to carry the ball further up field before drawing a defender and giving the ball to her support. Only when the home side hit the 22 did their lack of experience in the maul show as they got held up and turned over. These lessons will come with more game time, but it was a great passage of play that visibly lifted the team’s confidence.

Dorking were exploiting the W&R lack of experience at full back, putting several kicks over the top of the defensive line and forcing them to turn and chase. One such kick put the visitors in a great attacking position on the 22, only another last-ditch tackle from Eliana kept them from scoring. Dorking kept the ball alive however and went left with a 2-woman overlap to exploit. Fortunately for W&R the opposition centre tried to outrun Rebekah rather than give a pass but she was brought to ground with a crunching tackle. Unfortunately, this only delayed the inevitable as the Dorking prop picked up the ball and charged her way through and around the W&R defence to score under the posts. The kick was missed to give the visitors a 5-0 lead.

W&R went short from the restart and recovered the ball but were turned over at the breakdown for holding on. Again Dorking chipped over the defensive line and chased, only a scrambled defence save the chasing winger from scoring. A few minutes later and Dorking were using the same tactic to clear their lines, this time Rebekah was alive to the kick and recovered well before returning the ball inside the 22 with a powerful run. Alyssa was there to clean up the loose ball and made more ground with another jinking run through the Dorking defence. A penalty at the resulting breakdown was tapped and run in by scrum-half Lucy but as she crossed the line the Dorking defence scrambled to holder her up. Dorking recovered the ball from the goal line drop our and set off down the left wing at pace, but another brilliant tackle from Rebekah put a stop to the attack and dislodged the ball, Adiza was the first to react and picked up the loose ball sprinting down the wing that Dorking had just used to score her first try for Whits in in the corner. A tricky conversion was pushed just short to leave the score 5-5.

W&R brought the game straight back to Dorking from the kick off. From the edge of their own 22 they put together phase after phase together with strong direct running and excellent ball presentation to keep the ball alive. Watching the Veo video back after the game showed that from the kick off, W&R enjoyed 12 phases of uninterrupted possession and 3 offloads in the tackle before a driving maul under the posts was knocked on as they tried to ground the ball. More than any try or tackle this was a wonderful testament to the skill and tenacity of a girls team that has only been playing rugby for a few months. But this remarkable team was not finished, they won the scrum against the head and began hammering away at the try line once again. In what was the final act of the half, Navaeh drove forward powerfully off a loose ball only to be stopped by 4 girls as she looked to cross the line. This was to prove the last act of a thrilling half.
Half time 5-5.

In the 2nd half, with the wind and the slope in their favour, W&R set out to pressure the visitors from the outset. By now the W&R scrum was enjoying almost total dominance over the visitors and was consistently pushing them back. Another powerful scrum on the 5m line drove gave Dorking scrappy ball, the clearance kick just got past the 22 and W&R were back in attack with Adiza who set up the ball for another phase. The home side advanced down the wing but were stopped by hands in the ruck which led to a penalty. W&R took a quick tap on the 22 and drove into the 22, another recycled ball saw the ball carried hard to the try line before being popped back to Aimee who sniped around the ruck to score on the 15m line. The conversion was missed to leave the score 10-5 to W&R.

Dorking came straight back at W&R, pushing them back into their half, only a couple of knock-ons kept them from scoring. But eventually the dam broke, with the visitors camped on the 22 and the W&R defence drawn into the breakdown on the left-hand side, the ball came out to their centre who only had 1 covering defenders to beat, she arced her run and outpaced he opposite number to score on the 15m line. The conversion was missed to leave the score 10-10 with only 10 minutes of the game to go.

But this W&R side showed they have character and determination in abundance. A long kick from the restart and a ferocious chase put them back inside the 22, time and again they drove at the Dorking try line, only to be denied by some fearless tackling. But after 5 minutes of camping out in the Dorking half, W&R finally got their reward. A scrum just inside the halfway line was carried forward to the 22 by scrum-half, Lucy. She recycled the ball quickly and Aimee picked up again with another powerful leg drive to take the ball deep into the 22. Eventually with the Dorking defence preoccupied by the maul, the ball went left down the blindside to Anastazie who had only one defender to beat, she dummied to the winger before cutting inside to score to a huge roar from the home supporters. W&R 15 – Dorking 10.

With 5 minutes left, W&R decided the best form of defence was attack. First Phoebe, then Bea, then Lucy drove the ball deep into the Dorking half with only a knock on inside the Dorking 22 giving he visitors some respite. Dorking tried to play their way out of their half but the W&R defence was tenacious. First Pheoebe and then Adiza put int some brave tackles when it looked like Dorking were going to escape down the wing with no covering defender. Another brilliant Aimee carried the ball to the Dorking try line, only to be repelled by some solid tackling, finally Dorking began to edge their way out of their half with tiredness beginning to play a role in handling and some ragged tackling. But as Dorking looked to be making ground, Lucy picked up on a loose ball, kicked it downfield where the Dorking receiver knocked on to bring the game to a close. W&R 15 – Dorking 10. A fitting end to a historic game for Old Whitgiftian RFC.