The Burton under 18 girls were hosting their first league match of the season against Sleaford and oh my goodness how well did they play.

Burton number 10 (Alicia Lonergan) kicked off and the Sleaford backs collected the ball and ran at Burton, breaking through a couple of tackles and scoring under the posts in the first minute oh no i prayed not again and my prayers were answered, by a Burton team showing pride bravery and ambition a plenty. the next 10 minutes or so were dominated by the Burton tackling hitting the sleaford girls hard knocking them backwards on every occasion until Burton were awarded a penalty for Sleaford not releasing at the brakdown.
Alicia then made a huge kick in the opposition 22 and from the resulting lineout, Kelsey Grigg (Captain) threw the ball perfectly to Lucy Beckett who rose high above the opposition jumper and bought the ball down creating a maul, Lucy, Kelsey, Tyia, Elli, Louise and Charlotte drove the maul to within 10 meters of the try line, Jade took the ball from the back and passed to Alicia who found herself in space and scored our first ever try.
Burton continued to impress but Sleaford showed their experience and scored 3 unanswered tries until again Burton got a penalty again Alicia kicked to touch but this time Lucy could not quite reach the throw by Kelsey but Charlotte snatched it out of the air and set up the maul, the same result occurred as the last maul (you really could tell we had been working on this in training)and yet again Alicia powered over for the score. Burton now were on fire with all players wanting the ball. Anna, Elanor and Abi out powering the opposition in the scrum and Hollie and Louise chasing everything. Charlotte, Kelsey, Lucy, Tyia and Elli tackling like players possessed and Jade and Alicia linking up beautifully.
So half time came and went with Burton trailing but more than matching the opposition in every department until a host of injuries knocked Burton, First Kelsey was injured (knock to the knee) then Ellana was finally beaten by shin splints, Alicia then went off with a shoulder injury and finally Anna (Get well soon Anna) got a nasty ankle injury, Kelsey after some treatment reentered the game but the re-organisation gave Sleaford the advantage who scored more points.

Personally i am so proud of the team, we showed we can compete in this league and although we lost and have got many things to work on we are getting better with every game and we will be winning games before too long.