Girls U15 & U13 2016-17 Season Review

This season has been a challenge for both squads of girls. Claire Pollendine was the new head coach for the u15s and made a start on preparing the girls for East Midland county trials with Alice Murphy, Kayleigh Pitts and Chloe Sherwood making the team. Alice Murphy was selected for Midlands trials from her East Midland matches but unfortunately was not selected for this season. The Midlands coaches were impressed by her performance and invited Alice back to trial for next season. Well done Alice.
The u13s had an unsettling start to the season as half of the squad moved up to the u15 squad but with determination and some new players were ready for a friendly game against our close rivals Bedford. After a shaky start the girls quickly had control of the game displaying a high level of rugby with Chloe taking lady of the match and the players telling me they had won by 2 tries.
The u15s next looked forward to their match at Lutterworth. The match was a close one with Lutterworth taking an early lead but the Ampthill girls not letting it get to them they fought back gallantly. With both teams taking advantages when they were presented, Luttterworth were the eventual winners. The Ampthill girls left knowing they had played well.
In October Claire informed me that she had to leave the girls second coaching team due a change in some personal circumstances. I would like to thank you to Claire for her hard work and dedication with Ian (u18s) and as Head Coach to the u15s. All the players have missed you.
The u13s next match was home to ONs They started the match with great confidence and had control of the match from the start with the sun high in the sky and the players on form, settling in to a rhythm with several breaking through the defence line and scoring. By the beginning of the second half it started to snow and with a newly invigorated opposition the girls had to rethink the plans as they conceded two quick tries. Chloe and Sophie changed their normal starting places for kick off and a well-placed kick from Anwen led the attack quickly drawing the score. The whole team responded and outclassed a very good side with their performance.
After Claire left I needed to get help with the u15s. Mike Verwoert kindly offer his help, adding Mike to the coaching team meant we now had 4 coaches if I combined the u13 and u15s. The first new look training session went well with the girls taking this upheaval in their stride. After contacting the Bedford coaches to ask if we could support each other’s fixtures we decided to train together to get the girls ready.

After the first Friday’s combined joint training session we had a match at ONs. The u15s had not played together before. With the ONs scoring quickly from the restart the girls’ heads went down. With a quick reshuffle led by the girls they went out with a renewed sense of purpose and forced the ONs into retreat and scored a fantastic try. This match was their first test; despite losing they left with pride knowing they played well.
The u13s played in heaving rain caked in mud from head to toe the girls battled hard, with several driving mauls. One was driven from the halfway line all the way up the field and Leah who started the drive scored. The girls had displayed their ability to play together as a team and instinctively supported each other in going forward. With every player scoring this was a convincing win for the team.

The combined training continued and the girls’ confidence and skills continued to grow.
The u13s went on tour to Worthing. Saturday we went to Out Of Bounds, an adventure centre where they did rock climbing, played rugby golf and challenged the coaches to ten pin bowling matches. Sunday we played a match against Worthing winning 20 tries to 3.

This year has been a real challenge for the girls: they have had a large number of wins and some close matches this season. I would like to thank all the coaches: Charlotte, Richard and Mike for their dedication, the team managers and Craig for the match reports and photos and the parents for their flexibility with the matches and their overall enthusiasm.
David Dunstan
Head Coach Girls U15 & U13