Horsham U13 Girls London and South East Divisional Championship

After having had a brilliant year and only losing 1 game all season we finally found ourselves hosting the final waterfall Cup competition in the Gold Cup event.
All the teams deserve a hearty congratulations, I have purposefully not singled anyone out for particular praise as each and every one of the players has contributed so much this year it is unfair to single any one player out¬

The U13 Girls were expecting some very stiff competition as this constituted the best girls teams form Kent, Sussex, Essex and Surrey, and we were not to be disappointed.
Sutton and Epsom, Old Reigations, Horsham and Pulborough made up the round robin cup

Having lost by I score at the last tournament to Sutton and Epsom this was the immense task facing the Girls
The game was marked by stout defence by both sides and some truly ferocious tackling by both sides. A tremendous game with Horsham finally emerging as winners.
By the end of that game you could see that the girls on both sides were already tired and this was not surprising looking at the effort expended during the game.

Old Reigations next, this was a team that we had not played before and only trained with at an event a few weeks earlier and were notable by the size and strength of some of their star players.
With the Horsham girls seemingly recovered by their previous exertions battle was joined once more. Old Reigations soon showed just how well drilled they were and their discipline passing and offloading was a true credit to their coaches.
This made the eventual Horsham win even more remarkable, as Horsham seemed to throw any patterns to the wind and resorted to the tried and trusted method of playing as individuals and merely using speed and effort to overcome the opposition.
Despite the demonstrative and vocal efforts by the coaching team to enforce some order the Girls never the less used their absolute bonding and team work to swarm over any attack and nullify the bigger girls with brave, stout and at times brave tackling in defence, superb rucking in both attack and defence and their ability to run into space. A superb effort by both teams with Horsham the eventual winners of this encounter

By this time all teams were showing wear and tear from the fiercely contested matches and girls from all teams were beginning to flag a little.
The last match which would decide the eventual placing was against a well-known and familiar opposition Pulborough
A special mention here to the Pulborough team who at times have struggled with results against Horsham this year, but this is a much changed and developed side and were not there just to make up the numbers, so great congratulations to the coaching team at this age level who have worked wonders over the course of this season.

This turned out to be a particularly tight and hard fought match with a very fair result at the end of the match drawing the game.
Turned into a very watchable spectacle again notably for the tackling and rucking.
What really stood out for me during the games was the girls Heart, Bravery, commitment, determination to win and the absolute fair play. It is only the girls game where you can see an absolutely committed tackle and the tackler making sure that the player is unhurt and enquiring after their well-being after the match and apologies traded all round.

So after a long hard tense and exciting day, Horsham U13 Girls were eventually declared the winners.

Horsham U13 Girls London and South East Divisional Champions