Sunday 12th December
Squad: Ellie, Ava, Hannah, Izzy, Cara, Kelsey, Sophia (Captain) Ella, Sophia K, Robyn, Sophie
Sponsor: Lisa Collins Hairdesign
Rugby Town traveled to Whetstone to play Blaby and Whetstone U15, who are joint top of the league and are currently 9 wins from 9. The team knew this would be a very tough ask, compounded by a lack of player availability meaning we only just scraped together a starting 11.
Despite having to fish a ball out of the nearby stream during warm up, the team were all happy and up for a run around on a reasonably pleasant Sunday afternoon.
The pitch was boggy with heavy mud and quite long grass, so short passes were proving difficult, and there was a lot of slips and trips to factor in.
During the first half, the Rugby Squad build several good presses against Blaby, with strong sustained pressure and a couple of shots on target, which were saved by the Blaby keeper. Another couple of good Rugby runs were well defended by Blaby leading to shots wide of the goal.
The second half again started brightly, but as you would expect, as the half went on, it became very much a defensive game for Rugby with little opportunity to move the ball forward. The last 10 mins or so were tough on the Rugby team as they had been running and playing their hearts out for over an hour.
Rugby won a few free kicks and corners throughout the game, well delivered by Robyn and Ellie, but Blaby are a very strong, physical side, and generally had no issue with absorbing the pressure and then mounting some impressive counter attacks.
Perhaps inevitably Rugby lost this very physical and bruising (literally) encounter, but the score line only provides a black and white summary of the game. The Rugby girls can hold their heads high, their commitment, work rate, energy and positive attitude is unmatched this season. It was a pleasure to watch them play.
After the game, the team drew high praise from the referee and the opposition manager on their performance, they certainly did not hand Blaby the win and made them work hard for every goal.
Summary
Blaby and Whetstone 7 – 0 Rugby Town
Coaches’ players: Ava and Sophie – both had an awful lot of work to do, but their energy, teamwork and game play was excellent.
Thank you to the all the U15 parents for your support and positive comments after the game and Andrew for running the line.