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On Sunday the 30^th of October some of Harlow’s U17 and U14 ladies took part with their Basildon and West Norfolk counterparts to form West Baslow in the Rochford 100 ladies tournament. The tournament itself consisted of 10 ladies teams in each category of which two pool stages were played with the winners of each playing for the tournament trophy. Jasmine Bice represented Harlow for the U14’s and Natalie Mcclarnon, Becky Hodges, Sophie Bray, Carla Morley and Abbi Turner for the U17’s.

Throughout the pool stages West Baslow played some tough matches against Hertford, Diss, and North East Essex with the ladies Barbarian team dropping out before their first game. It took the ladies a while to get started with so many new faces in the squad but they quickly overcame this to beat Hertford in their first game 19-0. They then went on to beat Diss 26-0 and NE Essex 26-0 picking up bonus points from both matches for scoring 4 or more tries. The results themselves were quite impressive but more impressive still was the quality of rugby on display the girls attacked quickly with off-loads in the tackle often carving open the opposition whilst resolute defence meant no points were conceded in the opening pool fixtures. The try of the tournament coming from a good combination of this attack and defence against North Essex. The girls stole the ball from in their own 22 before passing the ball through every set of hands down the length of the pitch to score an amazing try the men’s sides would have envied. In three games the girls scored an impressive 71 points with no reply finishing top of their group. The U14’s also finished top scoring 165 points for only 5 in reply.

Both teams finished top of their group and played Welwyn in the finals. Welwyn U17 like West Baslow U17 had not conceded a point all game and also played a good attacking game and an exciting final was in the making and it didn’t disappoint. Both sides played to their strengths offloading the ball to good effect however the stubbornness of each teams defence held out. Welwyn broke the deadlock first with their centre breaking through the dogged West Baslow defence however they missed their conversion. West Baslow then stepped it up a gear driving Welwyn back up the centre of the pitch with some good forward playing driving up field. A good rolling maul lead to West Baslows try directly under the posts but the conversion was missed. The game then became a midfield battle with both sides cancelling each other out. It wasn’t until the last seconds of the game that Welwyn broke from a dubious referring decision to score under the posts and convert it in the dying seconds of the game making it 5-12 with West Baslow finishing as tournament runners up. The U14’s also finished as runners up losing in the finals to a strong Welwyn U14 side.

All throughout the tournament the girls showed great team spirit and determination combined with an entertaining style of rugby, and showed signs that there are great things to come from this side. Congratulations to all the Harlow girls involved who all played amazingly well especially considering it was for many of them their first competitive games but also to the girls from Basildon and West Norfolk who managed to reach the finals as a new side who have not played together before this tournament!