After endless weeks of blue skies and sunshine, dark clouds were gathering before our Cup game against Welwyn at the Herts Girls League Finals Day. Was this an omen for our performance, or for Welwyn’s, or just an unfortunate time for the weather to change?! Only time would tell.

Our girls were in good spirits during the warm up, and not showing too many signs of the butterflies their coaches had, and were hoping our players didn’t have. Our usual slow starts could be a particular issue today due to a Finals Day rule that, in the case of a draw, the winning team would be the first team to score a try, hence our apprehension. The girls spoke about having to start strong, so coaches’ fingers were crossed.

The first five minutes of the match were cagey and a stalemate, with plenty of dropped balls due to the torrential rain. As feared, Welwyn started with more energy than us and we weren’t pressing as hard as we needed to in defense, as well as passing the ball too much in attack and not taking it into contact. We were scrumming well though, and that with Welwyn errors was keeping us level. Welwyn made the extra energy count eventually by working the ball wide on to the left wing and unleashing their speed demon, who had enough gas to run round our 14 and 15 and score the first try. The conversion was missed, but now we knew we had to win the match to win the Cup.

After the restart, we began to make more impact with ball in hand and ask questions of Welwyn's strong defense. Finally, it paid off, with Ailsa breaking through and dotting the ball down near the posts. Flo converted and we were ahead. Our defense was better now, and the girls' rucking was particularly good, but again we defended too narrow and Welwyn's winger went round and in again. The conversion was missed and half-time came up soon after: 7-10.

The second half went pretty much like every second half this season, which I'd love to be able to say was due to the coaches’ rousing half-time speeches, but that would be stretching reality to breaking point. Something changed though as Flo's kick was chased all the way up the pitch, and Nic was in the face of the receiver, who fumbled the ball, allowing Nic to pounce and score near the posts. Flo kicked for the extras. That's more like it!

Now our tails, and chins, were up and we kept the pressure on. Welwyn were attacking with great energy too, but our tackler support and rucking was excellent and they couldn't find the width they had earlier, nor make much inroads up the middle. Some strong running again from us got Ailsa in near the right flag, and without the extras, we were looking good at 19-10.

Welwyn weren't going to give up though (they're too good for that) and managed to work their way up to near our try line with strong running and good support on their part and poor discipline on ours. They made it count by getting a third try in nearer the posts than their first two but the kick missed too. All to play for at 19-15 with 5 minutes to go.

It was hard fought on both sides after the re-start, but we were edging our way slowly but surely towards Welwyn’s line. We won a couple of penalties and at the second one, Flo and Ailsa decided to go for the tap and go, rather than the lineout, and thankfully it worked as Ailsa went over in the corner for her third. The kick was missed, but the game was won at 24-15.

What a game it was too. Our speed to, and technique at, the breakdown had been an area of weakness for us throughout the season, but our girls really stepped that up today with much faster support of the tackler and ball carrier. All the girls put in a huge effort, but our Player of the Match was Emielia who was everywhere in attack and defense, and doing it in a position she hadn’t played in before, as well as in a very tough match.