Stafford U16 Roses welcomed Burton U16 Girls to the county ground for the Staffordshire U16s Girls Cup Final. It was a lovely day for playing rugby on the main AGP pitch in front of an enthusiastic crowd of supporters from both sides.
Both teams were welcomed onto the pitch with a guard of honour from the Stafford junior section (U11, U12R & U14R) and the applause of the watching crowd.
Stafford got off to a flying start when AJ received the ball from the kick-off, rounded the Burton defence and passed the ball to Tori who finished the move off and dotted down under the posts; she then converted her own try. Burton were not knocked out of their stride by the early try and bounced back with a try of their own after 5 minutes. Stafford then started to struggle with the intensity that Burton were showing at the breakdown and turned over the ball a number of times in their own half. As a result of not being able to establish any field position Stafford conceded another two Burton tries one of which was converted.
Now trailing 7 – 19 Stafford started to put more players into the ruck to secure their own attacking ball. This allowed the home side to establish field position and Beth capitalised by crashing over from close range. This was followed by a long range try from Tori, where she shrugged off the Burton defenders and scorched her way to a try under the posts which she converted. Stafford then lost Chloe from the wing with what looked like a nasty ankle injury. Stafford then extended their lead when Tori again scored from long range, this time Tink converted as Tori needed time to regain her breath and recover.
Then with 5 minutes remaining in the first half Burton scored 3 quick fire tries of their own stretching the tiring Stafford defence out wide. The first half finished with Burton somehow in the lead 26 – 32.
After a stern talking to at half time the Stafford girls regained their composure and the lead when AJ broke free to score under the posts and Tori making the conversion. Burton hit back with a converted try of their own after 17 minutes of the second half, but Stafford hit back when Beth scored her second try of the match. Stafford then lost two more players when Imogen went down with an ankle injury and Ruby W had to come off with a sore back. With 8 minutes to go Burton extended their lead with a converted try to make the score 38 – 46. Burton were pushing for the winning score when Stafford won the ball back close to their own line. The ball was passed down the line 5 meters from their try line and Tori looped round the end to take the pass from Isobelle and ran the full length of the pitch to dot down under the posts for a converted try.
With time running out Stafford were trailing by a point and the game was on a knife edge. Burton were desperate to hang on to their lead and tackled bravely in the middle of the pitch. Stafford were then reduced to 14 players with a yellow card for repeated penalties- with only 5 minutes to go! However, Stafford were determined and Esmee stole the ball at the breakdown and passed it down the line to find Tori on the edge and she scorched home to score in the corner. Stafford were then able to secure the ball from the re-start and kick the ball dead to secure the win 50 – 46.
It had been a very exciting end to end game of rugby with both sides having periods of dominance and leading at various points in the game. However, Stafford emerged winners of this closely fought final.
Well done girls, it was a very exciting game for all the people watching and we eventually got the result that we deserved. Burton were obviously very disappointed not to have got over the line having beaten Stafford on two previous occasions this season. Stafford showing true determination not to loose the game that saw them retain the Staffordshire U16s County Cup.
Mark