After a good win against Lichfield/Burton we headed up north to play last seasons cup winners. We played a later kick-off at Castleford RUFC as there had been a girl's development day looking to attract more U15 players to the sport, which we were pleased to support.
The players were all fired up as Leos had knocked us out of the cup last year at the semi-final stage and as we arrived at Castleford they had the cup standing in a prominent position on a table. We had gone up with only 16 players and an injured scrum-half so we were playing a number of players out of position in order to make up a team.
We started off against a team including 5 Talent Development Group and two current England U20 internationals so it was never going to be easy. There was a big pack and a back division that came up very quickly to shut down space. Within the first 10 minutes Twink held up the Leos full-bck over the line and we were under pressure for much of the next 10 minutes. The defence was up to the task and after some aggressive mauling from Leos (which we struggled to contain) we went into the break at 0-0.
After half-time things didn't get any easier but a couple of changes of tactics made the game much more even-handed. We had more time inside the Leos 22, but neither side could make the final break and the match ended at 0-0. The players afterwards agreed that it was the toughest match probably since the cup round last year and the coaches agreed that it was probably the best performance this side has ever put up.
Player of the match went to Twink for saving the try and also for running from her own in-goal area with 4 Leos players between her and her support (and still getting over the half-way line). Put a few hearts in mouths....
Team: Tolley (captain), Trig, Shove, Ghostie, Wino, Lize, Pikey, Spidee, Kimbo, Fidler, Bean, Bob, Jadey-wadey, Nips and Twink. Replacements: Ale and Weewee.
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