Dartford Valley flew over the channel to a hospitable welcome to play their penultimate game of the season.

Despite the lack of sleep from a very early flight, the visitors started well with Sophie Merryweather putting pressure on the Jersey back line to award Valley a scrum in the opposition 22. Quick hands from the backs resulted in Ashleigh Bacon going over in the corner for a 0-5 lead, duly converted by Lauren Hunt to make the score 0-7

Jersey were unfazed by this and quickly started to put the pressure on the Valley defence with some clinical phases of play. This resulted in a scrum being awarded 5 metres from the Valley try line. A strong carry by the Jersey 8 and the subsequent kick levelled the score at 7-7.

Jersey continued to show some fluidity in attack resulting in a line break by the Jersey 7 followed by their 9 exploiting a gap around the breakdown to score between the posts. This was converted, giving Jersey a 14-7 lead.

Valley worked their way back up to the opposition 22, once again, and quick hands by the backs allowed Amelie Clarke to touch down for her first try in senior rugby to make it 14-12 to the home side at half-time.

Valley knowing they needed to improve their phase play, came out a different team in the second half. The forward and back line were back in cohesion resulting in several line breaks and Jersey having to resort to a scrambled defence. This was never more evident than when a line break by Sophie Merryweather resulted in a clinical offload to Kaylee Schorah to give Valley the lead. The score now 14-19, after another successful conversion from Lauren Hunt.

Valley continued their second half dominance with a further two tries from Caitlyn Gold and Lauren Hunt, with Hunt converting one. The score now 14-31 in favour of Valley. Tiredness started to show in both teams towards the end of the game resulting in a large number of scrums that neither team were thankful for. Finally, the whistle blew to complete a well fought and entertaining game.

Forward of the match went to Sophie Merryweather and back of the match to Kaylee Schorah, for both earning their team yards in territory in attack, and their relentless defensive pressure.

Thank you to Jersey Ladies for being amazing hosts.