Hertford 7 Welwyn Warriors 34

Warriors U17s travelled to Hertford last week knowing that their local rivals always pose the toughest test for them but in the end Warriors had a comfortable victory.
On a beautiful sunny autumn day, Warriors kept possession early on and a fluent passing move across the field was finished off by Mel Harcourt and converted by Megan Williams to make the score 0-7. Warriors kept up the heat and the pressure finally told when a Hertford scrum was turned over, Michelle Brophy drew in the Hertford defenders before finding Williams who raced in to make in 0-12. Continued Warriors pressure had Hertford camped in their own 22, Hertford attempted to kick clear only for new signing, Catherine Gilbert to collect the ball and race through Hertford's defence for the third try. 0-17. Danielle Topham, Emma Cramphorn, Hannah Marques and Charlie White all followed skipper Jess Lane's example and put in crunching tackles all over the field, the Welwyn forwards dominated the breakdowns. Emily Matuszcyk and Lana Block kept the pressure on with sweeping runs that always pegged Hertford back. After one spell of such pressure, the ball was released to Williams who raced home for her second try. 0-22. In the second half, Warriors never let up, Marques tackled well, collected the ball, made good ground before finding Brophy for try number 5, taking the score to 0-29 following William's conversion. As the match drew to its close, fine running by White made ground for Welwyn, White found Brophy who passed to Williams on the line for her third and Welwyn's 6th try. 0-34. In the final 6 minutes Warriors made 27 successive tackles as Hertford mounted a final assault to prevent the white wash. Right on the whistle they were rewarded with a try and conversion but the day belonged to the Warriors.
This girls' side is good, of that there is no doubt. The only question on everyone's lips at Welwyn, is HOW good can they become!