U14 Kingswood Athena's Vs Bristol Puma's

After what seemed like longest period without a match, the U14 Kingswood Athena's welcomed the Bristol Puma's to Grimsby Road this Sunday. An amalgamation of Chipping Sodbury and Frampton Cotterell, the Puma's arrived ready for the occasion and with decent numbers. The Athena's on the other hand were only just parading the bare 15 and with a few girls playing in unfamiliar positions such as Sasha Beresford at scrum half, Abi Smith in the centre and Pheobe Marsh in the back line. The Athena's went through their familiar warm up routine guided by new co-captains Abby Harding and Iris Greenwood and the girls looked set and ready for business.

With the storms forecast, the weather had settled for the match although the Kingswood pitches were soft and claggy. The Athena's set off and after a short period of scrappy ball play and turnovers from both sides, the Athena's began to find their rhythm. The forwards started punching holes and the backs began spreading the ball nicely through the line. Some instant pressure on the Athena's try line resulted in sterling defensive work and the ball was eventually kicked clear by Iris with an outstanding kick to half way. The clinical lineout in difficult conditions resulted in Scarlett Bryant bursting through defenders and brilliantly offloading to Romilly Langdon who ran in one of her easiest scores of the season, curving her run to dot down between the posts. Iris kicked the conversion and took the score 7-0 the Athena's.

The Puma's then applied a decent period of pressure forcing the Athena's back inside their 22 meter line and one of the Puma centres broke free from tackles and was able to run in from distance. The missed conversion edged the score close to 7-5.

The Athena's remained unphased and regrouped. Doing the basics well, they marched up the pitch. The Athena's pack remained strong and a scrum won against the head ensured good field position. The backs then went to work and the ball was brilliantly span between the ranks to Lily Williams who rolled over the line to score the Athena's 2nd try of the half. The score going into half time was 12-7 to the Athena's.

The 2nd half began and the Puma's came out fighting. A huge defensive kick over the top meant they earned good field position and the relentless pressure resulted in an early try. Sadly the Athena's seemed to begin making multiple unforced errors and the 2nd half became a scrappy affair with lots of turnovers, dropped possession and scrummaging. Several phases of Athena pressure in the Puma red zone ended without scores and the Puma's simply responded better. 2 more 2nd half Puma tries took the score out of reach and the game ended 12-20. On another day, the Athena's would have capitalised with all their field position and possession but alas it wasn't to be. The hard work and training that the coach's have been working on with the girls was clear to see with some of the best rugby of the season so far being played in the 1st half.

Special mention to Abby Harding and Abi Smith for forward and back of the day, respectively and to Sasha Beresford for tackle of the day (and all round great performance 1st time at scrum half).

Next week the Athena's visit the Walcats seeking their first win of the year.

1 - Amelia Woodland
2 - Summer Currey
3 - Abby Harding
4 - Tierah Reilly
5 - Ava Westwood
6 - Nyla O'Loughlin
7 - Romilly Langdon
8 - Scarlett Bryant
9 - Sasha Beresford
10 - Iris Greenwood
11 - Phoebe Marsh
12 - Abi Smith
13 - Hana Black
14 - Lilia Sperring
15 - Lily Williams