Today's round of the Bucks South East League was a little bit of a shock for the girls, and not just because of the cold: our first and second loss of the season but a good win to finish off the day.

Our first match was against OAs, a team we know well, and we were off to a flying start with a try each from Eleanor and Mya in quick succession. OAs dug in however and managed to get the ball to their flier on the wing who ran in a few scintillating tries. Eleanor's 2nd try closed out the first half 3-2 to Hitchin. Another try from Eleanor after the break and Hitchin looked like they might run off with the win, but Faye must've given OAs the hairdryer talk at half-time as they went into another gear and put 3 tries on our girls in quick succession. We were missing a lot of tackles and OAs were quicker to the breakdown than Hitchin. Ailsa managed to score her first, which put the game on a draw but OAs pressure took its toll and they clinched the match 6-5 with a final try. Great game!

Our second match was against Welwyn, a squad we've always had tough matches against, and this one was no different. We had to start the match without Isabella and Eleanor who took knocks and felt out of sorts. Mya got the first try on the scoresheet but Welwyn showed they would be no pushovers by getting 2 tries in a row to take the lead. That rankled Flo, who get over the line twice, and Ailsa who managed to dot down for her first of the match. Welwyn pulled one back before half-time to make it 4-3 to Hitchin at the break. Eleanor recovered enough to come on in the second half and straight away put in some superb tackles, but Welwyn had too much for us in the this half, scoring 5 tries against our 1 for Flo. Full-time score 8-5 to Welwyn and again our lack of speed to the ruck and energy to the ruck was our undoing.

The girls were clearly aching to show the best of themselves in the 3rd match, came out of the blocks on full chat and didn't let up until it was over. The final score was 8-2 to Hitchin and there were lots of superb performances, including Iris being 1st to every ruck (a common theme in all the matches), Flo's 2 turnover rucks and superb drives with ball in hand, Bella's awesome tackling and 1st try for the team (dragging most of the Enfield team with her), Mya's 4 tries and fantastic tackling, Eleanor and Ailsa's overall dominance in tackles and carries, Georgia's excellent space finding and Sophie's great finish for her 1st try.

The final match made it hard to pick a single Hog of the Week but Flo won it due to her high level of energy in all 3 matches, kicking at the restarts, tackling and ability to turnover some rucks.

Now, where's my little book of rucking speed drills....