After a standard performance last week and issues around responsibility at the ruck, a focus on protecting our ball was made in mid week training. This made a huge difference in our pool games against Durham/Houghton, Guisborough/Billingham, and Northern.

Our girls were amazing going forward, a strength we have in abundance, but they were so much better at the breakdown, retaining our own ball and turning over opposition possession.

Due to some fantastic strong forward runs and robust defence, we eased through our first two games and met Northern (last years nemesis) in the final pool game. The girls really wanted this game and took it to them in the first few minutes. This was a sterner test, but the girls rose to the challenge and scored some fantastic tries. There were a few team tries in this game too, where we were quick to protect our ball in the ruck, recycle quickly, and then passing down our line to score.

All our girls put in a fantastic shift, and all contributed to our success. On winning our final game against Rockcliffe the girls were buzzing at our performance.

Chimmy, playing in her first ever game of rugby, was absolutely amazing, making numerous strong runs, putting in countless tackles, and winning ball at the ruck. A deserved winner of Brave of the festival!

So proud of these girls, so much potential, and lots more to come.