Streatham started the match under immediate pressure. Medway were soon in the Streatham half, and brought wave upon wave of attack with Streatham unable to exit as Medway were dominating in the early scrums. However, Streatham’s defence remained solid. Eventually, Streatham managed to keep hold of the ball in the scrum and it was picked up by number 8 Captain Mel Laidlaw-Anderson who made an excellent break down the blind channel. Streatham moved the ball well though the hands, making decent metres down the pitch and drawing the Medway defence with strong carries from the pack. Eventually the backs managed to get the ball back out to the left wing and it was picked up on the bounce by full back Amy ‘Baby Rhino’ Allen who went over for the first points of the game. This was excellently converted in the corner by Laidlaw-Anderson bringing the score to 7-0.

Streatham had gained some confidence from having the ball in hand and continued to put together some decent phases of attack, with centre pairing of old Grace Moore and Helena ‘Ribena’ Solomon putting the strong Medway centres under pressure. Streatham’s second try was almost an identical imitation of the first. Good carries by new back row players Coco and Juliana created space for the ball to go through the hands which was finished brilliantly in the corner by winger and Junior Girls coach Catherine ‘CK’ Kingston. Laidlaw-Anderson was able to add the extras bringing the score to 14-0.

Medway scored just before the half time break with a beautiful flowing try, demonstrating the excellence of their offloading game bringing the half time score to 14-7. A few injuries saw a bit of movement with scrum half Katherine ‘Ken’ Maynard moving to fly-half and lock and 1st team captain Paige Abbs coming on to play scrum half. The new positioning required some adjustment and Medway were able to capitalise early in the second half bringing the score to 14-14.

The rest of the game was something of an arm wrestle, with both teams growing in confidence and showing some high quality rugby. Streatham were inches from the line with about ten minutes to go with Amy ‘Baby Rhino’ Allen making a good break and new fly half Kimmy ‘Catfish’ Bennett distributing well to release the backs. However, they were turned over 5m from the line and Medway were able to exit to see the end of the game out. The final score was an accurate reflection of a strong first half from Streatham and a strong finish from Medway and shows how far both teams of development players have come on this season.

The afternoon was polished off with a BBQ organised by Max Thomason and Philip Maytom, to whom we are grateful.

Forward of the match: Juliana Boateng
Back of the match: Katherine ‘Ken’ Maynard
Scorers: Amy Allen (1T), Catherine Kingston (1T), Mel Laidlaw-Anderson (2C)