Following several weather-related postponements, the girls were eager to hit the field for the final pool match of the National Cup. They faced a challenging game against a physical Fullerians team. In their final National Cup pool match, the Gosford U16 Girls delivered an outstanding performance, dominating in both halves to clinch a resounding win to top their pool.

First Half

The game began with Gosford immediately asserting their dominance in the scrum. Although Fullerians started with promising possession, Gosford’s defensive line and counter-rucking proved too strong, turning the ball over and gaining control. The first try of the match came from Sophie, who broke through the Fullerians defence after a sustained attack near the 5-meter line, giving Gosford an early lead (5-0).

Fullerians were awarded a scrum on their own 22, and a strong drive from Gosford allowed Alyce to steal the ball and with some quick and accurate passing moved the ball to Taia who used her strength to break the defence and score Gosford's second try (10-0).

Fullerians won the ball at the restart and tried to regain ground with a sustained period of attack, testing the Gosford defence. Lilly showed great awareness and managed to recover a loose ball securing possession for Gosford. The team moved the ball quickly stretching the Fullerians defence before reaching Taia who broke through multiple defenders before a fantastic tackle stopped her just short of the line. Showing great support play Emilia was ready to receive an amazing offload from the floor and went on to score Gosford’s third try with Immy making the conversion (17-0).

Fullerians fought back, stringing together multiple phases pressurising the Gosford defence. The ball reached the powerful Fullerian No 8 who knocked back multiple Gosford defenders showing no signs of slowing down. Bella came in hard from the side knocking the No 8 into touch with a huge dominant tackle. Unfortunately Bella was injured in the tackle we send her our best and hope she recovers quickly. With possession back with Gosford a series of quick offloads and strong rucking by the forwards allowed Eliza to score with Immy making the conversion again (24-0).

As halftime approached, Gosford continued to apply pressure to the Fullerians. A stolen lineout set up a fantastic play that allowed Monica to use her speed to avoid the Fullerian defence and score her first try of the match with Immy making yet another conversion bringing the first half to a close with the score (31-0).

Second Half

Fullerians came into the second half showing strong determination from the outset. Winning the restart they pushed Gosford back deep into their 22. Keeping possession they managed to break the gain line and through their powerful No 8 finally found a gap in Gosford’s defence, scoring their first try with a successful conversion (31-7).

Gaining control from the restart Gosford managed to retain the ball through a number of phases moving deep into Fullerian territory. Once the defence was drawn in, the ball was passed to Monica who skipped out of multiple tackles before straightening up and scoring her second try of the match (36-7).

At the restart, Fullerians again kicked deep into Gosford territory, Evie managed to collect a tricky ball before starting her run then offloading to Eliza bringing Gosford near their 10m line before being driven into touch by the Fullerian defence. Thanks to a knock on by Fullerians, Gosford gained back possession and with the Fullerians regrouping the ball was passed down the line to Eve, who used her speed to bypass multiple defenders to run 3/4 of the pitch scoring under the posts with Immy adding the extra points (43-7). Shortly after a stolen line out allowed Eve to run in her second try of the match (48-7)

Fullerians restart with Gosford intent on closing the match down, a deep kick left Gosford scrambling to clean up the ball and gave the Fullerians defence time to move forward closing down the space. The pressure caused Gosford to knock on with Fullerians gaining a scrum close to the Gosford line. Retaining possession at the scrum Fullerians start to pressure the Gosford defence, an unfortunate knock on passed the ball back to Gosford, where it was quickly passed to the wing where Eve performed an great run ending with her scoring and Immy making another conversion bringing the score to (55-7).

At this point the game was officially finished, play continued with the consent of both teams but further scores are not taken into account.

Despite a tough match Amelie still managed to identify space within the Fullerian defence and broke through to score with Immy making the conversion (62-7). Just before the final whistle Izzy managed to score another try for Gosford bring to final score to (67-7).

Overall a great performance by the Gosford U16 girls that placed them solidly at the top of their national cup pool. We now wait with anticipation to find out who our opponents will be in the last 16 knockout round.

Final Score:

Gosford 50 – Fullerians 7

The league table can be found here

Tries:
Amelie x 1
Eliza x 1
Emelia x 1
Eve x 3
Izzy x 1
Monica x 2
Sophie x 1
Taia x 1

Conversions:
Immy x 6

Injuries to Bella, Lilly and Evie - wish them all the best and a speedy recovery.

Thanks to Steve Karpa for the amazing photos. The album and other content is available here