THE girls from Crediton RFC travelled to Exeter Saracens on Sunday, May 23 to complete this year’s two-week season, having started it last week amid all of the Covid impacts.

The weather also made its mark with hard rain and strong winds more reminiscent of an October autumnal afternoon.

As always, the girls in Black and Amber rose to the challenge set before them and came away unbeaten in all age groups for the second week running.

U13 Girls

The under 13 girls played incredibly well despite it being only their second game together, with high pace and good spirits.

The activity started with a game of touch, where the girls all kept their line strong in both defence and attack, and with the nature of touch rugby they played out a draw before they moved to a contact game.

The rain and wind continued throughout the whole game making passing a wet greasy ball a tricky prospect, but the girls kept their spirits up and continued to get stuck in.?From the start of the contact the girls relished the physicality, they moved up quickly in defence putting pressure on the opposition. A key feature being making some great tackles, and getting up straight away to get in the rucks. This breakdown work showed benefits as they kept the ball safe when in possession but also winning the opposition ball, stealing the initiative back to their side.

For a young side, many playing their first season, the skill levels from the Kirton girls, both as individuals and as a team, shone and the continuation of their rucking game continually put their red and black clad hosts under pressure.

Meika Hinds typified this and was having a cracking game, making lots of good, low tackles, long runs, and scoring tries, until an unfortunate tackle which resulted in coming off the pitch. Despite this, the girls kept their spirits up, kept smiling and continued to put their skills into use!

The final score was 15-15 with three tries apiece and the coaching team were delighted with the efforts of their squad as were parents who had travelled down to watch.

U15 Girls

A smaller group of 12 girls turned out for the Under 15’s in the horrendous conditions. At the request of Saracens, the game was a "touch" game and the Kirton girls got off to a slow start; the combination of weather, smaller numbers and different rules made things difficult.

Creddy girls had been playing full contact in training and at the game last week so the adjustment back to non-contact took some getting used to for both the girls and coaches.

Exeter Saracens took advantage of this adjustment period and got off to a stronger start building a 10-0 lead at half-time. A passionate team talk from coach Sarah Westcott and senior player Scarlett Wonnacott (making her last appearance for the U15’s before she progresses to the U18’s next season) put some fire in the Kirton girls hearts.

The Crediton girls took to the field for the second half full of belief and blew the Sarries girls away. A try each for Charlotte Wreford and Poppy Harrison evened up the match.

The team played some impressive rugby, moving the ball beautifully and creating space, this accompanied with an urgency when defending kept our hosts completely out of the game. The final whistle came too soon and we walked away with an impressive 10-all draw against a tough opposition.

Satisfied with their efforts but with their appetite for "real" rugby unsated the girls were left chomping at the bit and despite the weather conditions, they stayed behind to play each other in a contact match. It was great to see such great team spirit and the girls having so much fun.

U18 Girls

The girls from the U18 squad had the appetite to improve on last week’s impressive victory and set about their task from the first whistle. Within minutes of the start they set out their stall of great supportive rugby and with breakdown rules more akin to the real thing they played to their strengths of ruck and counter ruck to dominate both possession and territory.

The first try for the Kirton girls came as they drove down the pitch in controlled phases of play before releasing wide players who ran around the outside to score in the corner. The early success was replicated again and again as the second and third tries were put on the board and all of this before the red and black shirts of the home side had really set foot in the Crediton half.

The hosts though, through good rucking work of their own, started to apply their own pressure but some outstanding defence work, including some ferocious tackling, held Saracens at bay until they eventually worked themselves a lineout on the Crediton 22 yard line.

They then caught the visitors makeshift lineout, (their three normal jumpers unavailable), napping with a quick throw to the front and a galloping run that, despite some last ditch recovery efforts, ended in the defence being breached.

The response was immediate as Crediton chased down their kick off, recovered possession and moved ominously down the pitch to get over the line again before the referee called time on the first period, leaving the Black and Ambers 24-5 ahead at the break.

With that points advantage and the wind very slightly in their favour Crediton girls varied their attack in the second half bringing more tactical kicking to the party, but not before two individual tries, one of outstanding technique, had increased the advantage. The kicking game gave the red and black side some headaches and none more so than when in a quick pre-arranged move a kick into space saw the runner collect the ball and then feed back in to the kicker to go in under the posts.

Two more scores from the Kirton contingent seemed to be the last of the action but a mistake from the referee gave Saracens a fortunate penalty which they took quickly and successfully to round out the game with their second score.

The final score of 57-10, and try count of 9-2 (with six conversions) was a fair reflection of the dominance of the Black and Amber girls who worked tirelessly to support each other and defend with vigour and commitment.

The Crediton coaches were understandably delighted with the result but even more so with the performance, saying, “We took the same approach as last week and just said to the girls to get out there and enjoy themselves. In many ways Saracens were a more organised side on the day but with the talent we have in our squad - coupled to the effort and workrate needed to let that talent shine - we couldn’t have been more pleased with their efforts.”

They continued: “We had three or four girls put in their best performances in Crediton shirts today and with everyone playing very well indeed, it was just too much for Saracens to handle.”

The Coaches concluded with: “Thank you, as always, to all of the parents for their support today. That’s the second Sunday in a row that the weather has been horrific, so to see so many of you giving the girls that level of vocal encouragement is fantastic. And thank you to our First Aiders who dealt with our players injuries with care and professionalism.”

With the season now over the girls had their final training session and a chance to say "goodbye" to Suzy Keast who, after years of fantastic work as the club’s Girls Manager, is stepping back to enjoy a more supportive role. And "supportive" is more than likely to mean shouting from the sidelines as she supports the Black and Amber shirts of her daughter and team mates. Thank You Suzy, you will be sorely missed.