A great weekend for Welwyn Warriors!

The U14 side played away at Hertford and won 45-5 with Tries from Sam Voyle (4) Olivia Payne (2) Rachel McCUllough, Milly Porter and Lydia Plummer 1 each. This young team is improving match by match and recruitment is growing all the time! The club is well on target to reach its target for two teams at this age group in the not too distant future. After the match, the victorious Warriors posed with the County shield they helped win for Hertfordshire the previous week at the County tournament in Westcliffe. Westcliffe RFC hosted the inaugural Essex County Tournament with the U14 Cup involving two groups of three with the winners of each group playing in the Final. Herts U14 won their group by first beating a physically large Bucks U14 team 19-5 with Tries from Courtney Arberry, Sam Voyce and Sydnie Grace, and Clare Shutler adding two Conversions. They then beat Eastern Counties (Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambs) 31-0 with Clare Shutler scoring three Tries and three Conversions, and other Tries from Megan Childs and Millie Porter.

Essex U14 won their group by beating Kent and Middlesex. All previous U14 games between Herts and Essex have been extremely close and this was exactly the same. Essex scored an early Try, which they Converted to go 7-0 up. Herts then scored Tries from Clare Shutler, which she converted, and Alice Nee to lead 12-7 at the break. In a very tense second half, Herts defence withstood the Essex onslaught and crucially Milly Porter just won a sprint to the Herts Try Line, following a perfectly judged Essex kick, to prevent the home side evening up the score. At U17 level the Warriors provided 9 players that finished runners-up to Essex in the same tournament.

While the U14s were rampaging at Hertford, the U17 Warriors were cruising into the last 8 of the National cup with a comprehensive display at the Southern pool held in Letchworth. Warriors were fast out of the blocks against their first opponents, Worthing and won 48-0. The sheer physicality of the Warriors was simply too much for a Worthing side rebuilding after losing girls to senior rugby last year. The second match saw Warriors take on fierce local rivals, Letchworth. Welwyn scored early on but a sloppy throw away pass allowed Letchworth an interception try and for 5 minutes Warriors looked all at sea. Another try before half time settled the nerves and in the second half Warriors ran in the second biggest score of the day to finish 34 – 5 winners.

The final match saw Warriors play a patched up combined Saracens and Fullerians side. Injuries during the day saw Sarries robbed of their key player Alex Robertson and the Sarries walking wounded defended gallantly to keep Warriors to just 3 tries as The blue and maroons won 15-0.

Together with pool runners-up Letchworth, Warriors progress to the Southern Semi Final on Feb 4th.

It was a fantastic performance by every single one of the players and while it would be unfair to pick any player out for special praise, Sprinkbok Frankie Dawson played with broken fingers such is the spirit in the Warriors camp and after a difficult period with her rugby, it was great to see skipper Lana Block leading from the front, smiling and really enjoying the game! Warriors finished with a positive points advantage of 94 points on the day, the only side to have a positive tally. Team manager Dave Marques was delighted once again. ‘We’ve picked up some new key players. Players that have chosen Warriors because they know that with the coaching they’ll get from County coach Luke Williams, their game will improve. Playing with the girls we have is bringing out the very best in their game and we can only go from strength to strength!’

Under 14 Warriors