A sombre Remembrance Day weekend saw the Dartford Valley U12s on the road again, this time more locally to Beckenham RFC. As always before the game there is some consternation as the 2 sets of girls size each other up, trying to see who the key players were. Thankfully Beckenham had arranged one of their society refs to ref the game and both sets of coaches had the benefit of concentrating solely on their teams.
As usual our girls were a little lethargic at the start and after a few giggles from missing tackles and watching the oppo run past us, we got our game faces on and took the match seriously. Who better to do this from a penalty on the halfway line I hear you ask? Ella steps up with a tap and pass to Darcey who takes route 1 (a method of running others could learn from!) Breaks the line easily and runs half the length of the pitch to score, putting Valley 1 ahead. 0-1
Try 2 was a well worked team affair, the girls are learning that we have few weak points in the team and this try is a clear demonstration of that, it was close to going through the hands of every girl in the team so hold tight for thus nail biter! A pass from leftfield by Darcey to Ella and Ella makes a run trying to step around the Becc’s 14, the Becc’s 14 by the way is a no nonsense tackling machine and whilst tackled Ella didn’t spill the ball, Learning from last weeks battle at Basildon Valley were quick to the breakdown with Darcy and Tilly securing the ball. With no 9 Cara filled in for Ella and passed the ball to Arrianna who was quickly driven towards touch by you’ve guessed it the Becc’s 14 and one of her team mates, with the reactions of a cat Arianna offloaded before she was driven into touch, a ball that was eagerly scooped up by Violet who with a sprinkle of Darcy and with her Dad Bens instructions at the forefront of her mind scampered forward breaking through the first line of defence of 3 Becc’s players, the Becc’s 6 recovered in the backline with a great tackle and the tale of the breakdown emerged again! The superior body position and determination of Sophia enabled her to hold back 3 players! With the Becc’s players sucked in at the breakdown there was space on the right wing, a pass from Emily Johncock to Arianna on the left had Arianna sprinting with the gait of a Gazelle and was closer than she expected to scoring a try, because watching the video shows that if she had placed her arms forward as opposed to presenting back to her team the try was hers! That being said the Valley 9 was back where she needed to be and a pop to Grace was an open invite as Becc’s defended on the tryline instead of pushing forward. What a team try!! 0-2
Our girls were strong but that does not mean that it was one way traffic as Becc’s pegged one back bringing the scoreline to 1-2.
The Valley team are blessed with a broad range of players and playing styles and try number 3 Showed all that we had to offer, Crunching tackles by Cara on the Becc’s 14 in the centre field made grown men wince, but Becc’s were playing to their strengths and played the full width of the pitch with a strong passing game. After several phase’s there was a breakdown a couple of metres out from the Valley Tryline before the ever-present Isla Johnson got the turnover. It was Valleys turn to string some passes together and stretch the oppos defence, Ella to Tilly who made a few trademark jinks before offloading to Darcey, Darcey’s miss pass to Freya on the wing lets Freya stretch her legs and clear our lines. On the halfway the outstretched arm of the Becc’s 14 (she really covered some ground today), ball secured by Darcey and Tilly steps in at 9 to play the ball to Fran who gains valuable yard before going to ground amid the bodies of 3 Becc’s players, having spilled a couple of balls earlier in the day Coach Pete’s advice came to the fore “Hug the ball like Pete hugs cake!” Ball secured by Tilly allows Ella to pass to Sophia waiting on the left wing as she drives over for her 1st of the day. 1-3
There was no time for complacency though as Becc’s scored 2 tries in quick succession bringing the contest back to 3-3 GAME ON!
Valley have been experimenting positions for the girls as the pitches get bigger and the squad numbers increase, Pulling Darcy out of the scrum however has meant that the Valley scrum was not as dominant as it usually was. Undeterred this just meant the girls worked harder in defence and to be frank this was not necessarily a bad thing, our tackling has been getting better across the board with all the girls getting involved. A lost scrum allowed Becc’s to surge forward but a great tackle and strip of the ball by Grace sees the ball fed to Tilly on the wing, stepping the full force of the tackle by the Becc’s 14 allows Tilly to offload to Sophia who provides a great supporting run crashing through 5-6 players. Though Valley comes away with the ball there were a few fumbled passes that allowed Becc’s to make a break down the left wing. A tackle and quick ruck by Cara allow clean ball for Ella who passes to Arianna. Arrianna breaks through 2 tackles before stretching her legs and breaks the hearts of the Becc’s girls ending the comeback and leaving the score 3-4 at half time.
Half time could not have come at a better time for Valley, and the team talk was quick and to the point. \Being dominant in defence should not give us license to be sloppy with our passes. The continued positivity at the breakdown means that we turn the ball over often but means we are working harder than we should. The aim for the second half, better rugby!

The second half starts with a strong run down the wing by Sophia, with a Becc’s player dragging her back by the waist she opts to offload to Darcey who after making some ground passes to Cara marauding through the centre, with a change in pace she heads for the left corner and scores. 3 – 5
The big tackles have taken their toll on Becc’s, and the Valley backs start to shine. Strong run down the left from Sophia sees the ball passed to Emily who makes ground before passing to Isla who switches play from the left wing towards the right, sideways running allows Becc’s to scramble their defence but she offloads to Tilly “twinkle toes” Timon who having checked her run to stay behind Isla dances through what’s left of the defence to end her barren scoring patch of 1 game (she really did sulk last week!) to score. 3-6
Becc’s got one back to bring the scores to 4-6 but this was the beginning of the end a dominating tackle by Cara described by the referee as “generating power he has never seen in an u12 game” seemed to take the wind out of the Becc’s team as opposed to just the player that she tackled. Indeed, there was a collective gasp from both sets of coaches on the touchline.
The floodgates had burst, and the Valley girls made hay whilst the sun was shining. Tilly jinks past 3 players before offloading to Grace who was on fire today really raising her game, standing up to her tackle she offloads to Tilly who had looped around in support, this girl could step past people in a phone box but getting passed 3 players and the tryline in her sight was brought down by Becc’s covering 14. Down to the floor Tilly went but pops the ball into the waiting arms of Sophia who dots down her second try unopposed. 4-7
A Becc’s player goes down injured from a crunching Cara tackle, through courtesy and not just the game on rules Valley drop a player to finish the match at 11 a side. The Valley physicality is showing yet again.
The next try was a thing of beauty albeit a solo one, not wanting Sophia to be the only player scoring 2 tries Cara not only makes a try saving tackle on the Valley try line but strips the ball and makes a perfectly arced run down field, bumping a player at the halfway line meant the remaining Becc’s players showed little interest in trying to tackle her. Cara romps home the full length of the pitch to score her second of the day 4-8
Freya makes a great tackle on the left wing and the next tackle sees Violet come away with the ball and the pocket rocket gains 5 metres. By this stage the Becc’s players are fatigued and all sucked into the breakdown, Valley are spread across the field better. Coach Tomi can be heard from the touchline urging for Tilly to call/demand the ball. Ella having a great game at 9 today passes the ball into the centre where Freya is waiting. With a great diagonal run and Tilly to her right in support she races to the tryline, the space was hers and whilst no doubt thankful for the support was never giving up her try (rightly so!) to Tilly on her outside. 4-9
The last try of the day and wrapping up Caras hat trick was purely down to reaction at the breakdown. Becc’s were in possession but up against it on their tryline, after a tackle the Becc’s player presents to her team, Cara steps through the gate picks the ball up and dots it down for the end of the game. 4-10
Though at times quite brutal the girls from both sides came together after the game all smiles for photos! We then joined all the teams on the Becc’s first team pitch for a well respected 2 minutes silence for remembrance Sunday.

Again today there were heroes across the pitch and believe me girls this did not go unnoticed, whilst the try scorers often get the glory it is the hard work often unseen off the ball and at the breakdown that gives players the platform that is needed to score the tries in the first place. Seemingly at odds with that however what has a player got to do to get Oppos player of the match? With bone crunching tackles and a hat trick Cara suffered the curse of being deemed a forward and the oppo gave it to Tilly in the backs. With only one try today I think it may have been the offloads and spacial awareness that caught the eye of the oppo. Valley however appreciating the physicality, rightly gave the plaudits for the oppo to the ever present 14. With a couple of players on her shoulders ready to receive an offload the score could have been different.
All in all, at the end of the day some very happy coaches, as always plenty to work on but we always seem to save the best for match day.