ABC 12 V De La Marys 27 – Leinster League

ABC 12 V De La Marys 27 – Leinster League

The U16’s took the spin to Ardee RFC on Saturday morning to play ABC (Ardee, Boyne & Carlingford combined). With ABC sitting close to us in the table we knew it was going to be a tough game. Some added complications by colds and flus taking some players out of the equation but trusting this group of girls to play their game has been a key in their growth.

The opening exchanges went well for the visiting team, receiving from the kick off they showed fantastic intent. Despite a knock on the middle of the park they managed to dominate the scrums and came away with a penalty for their hard work. A couple more infrigements saw them camped firmly in the oppositions half. Eventually taking a crash ball through the forwards and over the line for the opening score, despite a great effort the extras went unsecured and the score stood at 0-5 about 5 mins in.

ABC were not to be sat down and battled hard around the park another scrum penalty and a tap and go about 20 mins in saw Charlotte get into space on the wing – tracking well but under pressure a second swing tackle infringement, resulted in a penalty and a yellow card to the home teams. Some great work with limited space saw the ball crash up before swinging wide again and Charlotte eventually crossed the line to make it 0-10. Into the closing five minutes of the first half saw DeLaMarys retain significant ball and regain posession when lost through some fantastic defending on the outside. Their hard work paid off when they crossed the whitewash one last time in the half with Ava adding the extras the score stood at 0-17 at the half time break

Despite kicking off in the second half the DeLaMarys girls went hunting and through some great pressure eventually managed to regain the position. A spilled ball in the tackle gave the home team a scrum where they made the most of it! A reset called and the got the ball out the line with ABC re-energised after the half and really pushing the DeLaMarys team. Some excellent rucking in the wide channels resulted in a great turn over and the visitors had to work up the park. Some excellent ball retention eventually saw the girls on the good side get the opening score of the second half. Leaving the scores at 0-22. So much respect has to be given to the home side who were not giving up. A knock on from the restart gave them a strong foothold in our half but they weren’t being given an easy entry. They retained well and worked around the outside and eventually scoring just to outside of the posts. The game restarted 5-22.

Even with the resurgence a slippy ball after the restart gave the travelling side a good position and some quick scrum ball and great hands in the proceeding exchanges gave the DeLaMarys team their final score of the game 5-27. Not to be pushed over easily, the last 15 mins of the second half was a battle in the middle ground with ABC eventually working their way up the park before some tired bodies and missed tackles gave the home side the last points of the game. Finishing 12-27.

A super performance by the growing squad! Lots of work left in the season and this team is getting better week on week. We look forward to seeing more of what they can do!