Girls’ rugby
BARNARD Castle U15s girls hosted a combination of Hartlepool Rovers RUFC and Horden and Peterlee RUFC down on the Demesnes.
Castle wasted no time getting on the scoreboard with a fantastic try as Alisha Bell crashed over the line.
Shortly after, newcomer Charlotte Henwick-Crawford showed some blistering pace as she took off up the wing, slipping out of tackles and rocketing away from the defence to dot down out wide.
From the kick off the ball was gathered and they forced their way to the opposition 22, thanks to great carries from Charlotte Page, Olivia Dent and Caitlin Petch.
Eventually a gap opened up for Alisha Bell to coast through and score under the posts, allowing Tiggy Johnson, whose kicking was excellent all day, to make easy work of the conversion.
It wasn’t long before Castle were back on the attack as plenty of phases allowed the girls to press once more.
An excellent link-up from the team saw the ball passed through the hands across to Tiggy who smashed through attempted tackles and stepped back inside to score under the posts before converting her own try.
With the half time whistle only minutes away, Castle kept their collective foot on the gas and battled their way back up the pitch. Once again strong carries in the middle of the field sucked in the defenders and created a gap for Caitlin to slip through to score under the posts. With the try converted, that was it for the first half.
Going into the second half, Castle now had the added advantage of going down hill with the wind behind them. Keen to keep the score board ticking over, the girls kept up the tempo from the first half.
From a tap and go penalty, Caitlin coasted through a pack of defenders untouched and dotted down. Shortly after, more excellent phase play from the team opened up a gap for Caitlin to slip through once again and score.
Next on the score board was Charlotte Henwick-Crawford, who had an amazing debut game, running in another two tries in quick succession.
To finish off, Alisha Bell, found a great line in the middle of the field and ran in under the posts. Credit to the opposition who stuck in all game, scoring three tries of their own and played brilliantly, leaving the final result at 60-15.
Overall, this was a big effort from the girls both as a team and individually, not only in attack but in defence too.
They have a lot to be proud of and will look to bring this level of play into the upcoming games. Big thanks to Andrew Stubbs for stepping in to referee and also to Rachel Page and Sally Evans for the photography.
Next week Castle travel to Blaydon RUFC which is sure to be another exciting game!
Lewis Wigham
