28th
september 2008 - Sussex festival.
The first game of the season for the Oxfordshire U18s.
Nerves were high for the girls coming up from the U15s
and generally for a new team.
The temperature was high and we did experience what
could be described as a pretty hectic bus journey including
a while sat on a bank and a few fire engines as well
as arriving late.
The squad was then eventually ready to face 3, 15miniute
games with about 10 minutes between.
The general feeling of the group before the first game
were nerves however the older players supplied advice
and support.
 We
walked on to the pitch knowing all we needed to do was
our best.
Throughout all the games our confidence grew and we
gelled more as a team. Both our breakdown play and line-outs
improved and next game we are going to tackle like demons.
Altogether we did a good job and noticed our flaws and
which skills we need to work on and focus on as a team.
We left as a better team and we should all be proud
of ourselves.
Well done girls.
5th October 2008 – Oxfordshire Cluster
vs Berkshire Cluster
Score: Ox 0 : Be 50
Venue: Chinnor
Attendance: ~ 20
Oxfordshire’s first Cluster league fixture.
At the start of the match, we were fired up and we
got off to a really good start. We applied pressure
at the start of the match and initially held a team
who had internationals and established regional players.
Throughout the game we occasionally applied pressure
and forced Berkshire to make mistakes and we made a
couple of breaks which was a huge improvement from last
week.
Laura, our tighthead prop twisted her knee and had
to be taken off so we were down to 14 players and no
subs. We were able to use the 5 metre rule with the
scrums and made some good breaks.
At half time we had conceded tries but the team still
remained positive and were hopeful of scoring.
In the second half we created some good phases and
had a lot more possession than the first half but although
we kept applying pressure and our support play improved
we could not set up an opportunity to score. We defended
our line for over five minutes and it was the best phase
of the match for tackling and communicating but finally
Berkshire broke through and scored.
The match helped to improve all the players’ confidence
and we all gave our best throughout the game. Considering
this is our second match, we are starting to gell as
a squad. Although we let in too many tries, our tackling
improved from last week and the team worked together.
Our coach Simon says
“I am proud and impressed with the squad’s
team spirit and it was good to see the improvements
from the previous week. We have still got plenty to
work on and will concentrate on them during our next
two weeks of training prior to our next match.
We received complements by the referee, the opposition’s
coaches and parents and I am sure that when we play
teams who are similar in experience to ourselves we
will be able to compete and win.”
Once again we should all be proud of our improvements
and our performance.
Mickey Harris
Oxfordshire U18 Chief Match Reporter
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