U18 Girls – Sunday 20th March 2022 – Oxfordshire v Buckinghamshire

 

Oxfordshire RFU Girls U18 kicked off their first of three matches with an away match against Buckinghamshire RFU at Aylesbury on their Artificial Grass Pitch. It was a fiercely contested match with some fantastic free flowing rugby on display from both teams.

 

In the early stages Oxfordshire, who were captained by Sophie Warwick (Gosford All Blacks), dominated possession and territory. This was down to some aggressive tackling and rucking from the Oxfordshire players, with Open Side Flanker Lily Olliffee (GAB) and Inside Centre Paulini Tabuadua(GAB) leading the way. Fly Half Ruby Fincken (Chinnor) also showed excellence awareness at the breakdown, with 2 first half turnovers.

 

The story of the first half in-particular was the dominance of the Oxfordshire scrum. Oxfordshire won a number of scrum penalties and took 2 against the head after great hooking from Milly Dinsey (GAB), along with some really strong scrummaging by fellow front rowers Aisling Dulson-Ormsby (Chinnor) and Cady Cooke (GAB).

 

The 1^st try came from a great defensive effort and a huge hit by Tabuadua and then great turnover from Olliffe inside our 22, then some lovely hands from the backs the ball ended up with Hannah Newhouse (GAB) inside our 22. The centre showed excellent strength to ride the initial tackle, and then fantastic footwork to put her into space, she then showed excellent acceleration to sprint through the defence and run 80+ meters to score under the posts. Lucia Sammons added the extras.  The 1^st half finished 0 v 7 to Oxfordshire, however we lost influential Tight Head Prop Cooke to a nasty ankle injury at the end of the 1^st half.

 

The second half saw a number of changes at half time from both teams. The opening minutes were fiercely contested, but Buckinghamshire managed to create space on the right wing and scored three quick try’s, one of which was a penalty try, to take a 19 v 7 lead.

 

Alice Millar (Chinnor) showed lots of pace in both attack and defence, and Fincken showed great distribution to release the outside backs who made strong carries in the centre third of the pitch.  Oxfordshire played some strong rugby, leading to a period of pressure inside Buckinghamshire’s 22. Several penalties were awarded, and Oxfordshire got their rewards for the pressure with a  lovely strong carry from Dulson-Ormsby resulting in her touching down for a well deserved try. This made the score 19 v 12.

The final word however was that of Buckinghamshire who scored a lovely team try which concluded the scoring with them coming out 26 v 12 winners in a really competitive game that was a fantastic advert for representative rugby.

 

There were some really strong performances from the Oxfordshire Team. With Warwick leading the side strongly ably supported by Freya McGinlay (GAB) who stood up to show her Leadership when needed.

 

Oxfordshire Players of the Match

Coaches Choice – Lily Olliffe

Buckinghamshire’s Choice – Hannah Newhouse

 

Squad

1 – Aisling Dulson-Omsby (Chinnor), 2 – Milly Dinsey (GAB), 3 – Cady Cooke (GAB), 4 – Freya McGinlay (GAB), 5 – Orlagh Roberts (Chinnor), 6 – Natasha Harris (Chinnor), 7 – Lily Olliffe (GAB), 8 – Sophie Warwick (capt GAB), 9 – Lucia, 10 – Ruby Fincken (Chinnor), 11 – Grace Turner (Bicester), 12 – Paulini Tabuadua (GAB), 13 – Hannah Newhouse (GAB), 14 – Isla Ormrod (GAB), 15 – Dylan Turner (Banbury), 16 – Scarlett Malleson-Hull (GAB), 17 – Chloe Merry-Taylor (Banbury), 18 – Lily-May Carpenter (GAB), 19 – Alice Crindland (Bicester), 20 – Jess Mallaghan (GAB), 21 – Poppy Tyrell (Wallingford), 22 Eleanor Page (Banbury), 23 – Charlotte Kemp (Bicester), 24 – Alice Millar (Chinnor)

 

Coaches

Head Coach – Shane Harrison (Wallingford)

Coaches – Dominee Sewell (Chinnor), Al Scott (GAB), David Norris (Faringdon), Storm Dinsey (GAB/Grove – Team Manager)