Mixed results for North Hykeham against a Burton/Litchfield combined team
For the second successive Sunday North Hykeham found themselves playing against combination teams in both age ranges. This weekends opposition being a combined Burton/Litchfield team.
A hard game was expected in the Under 18's game as the visitors had selected both of their England Under 20 players - Vicky Fleetwood and Emily Scarratt for the match.
The early signs were ominous for the hosts who were unable to deal with Scarratt's counter attacking in open play. Three tries and one conversion by Burton/Litchfield found them 19 points adrift at the interval.
The half time team talk seemed to galvinise North Hykeham who came out in the second half with a far more determined attitude. It came as no surprize that centre Mica Grossett reduced arrears with a fine individual try running half the length of the pitch to score under the posts making the conversion a formality.
North Hykeham continued to press and from a lineout 10 metres out the pack set up a powerful driving maul which eventually resulted in scrum half Lizzie Cannon going over to take the score to 19 - 12.
Heartbreak for North Hykeham came a few minutes later when having won the ball at a ruck they attempted to move the ball along the line only to see Scarratt intercept a pass and run the ball in under the posts unopposed. A late try in the far corner from a scrum in the final play of the game gave the visitors a 31 points to 12 win but in reality the game was far closer than the scoreline suggsted.
The Under 15's continued their winning ways with a fine 34 points to 5 win. Key players for North Hykeham were N.L.D. School Of Rugby players Rachel Jones and Carla Club who between them racked up 19 of the home teams 34 points. Laura Ware, Katie Smith and Tanya Bird also scored tries in what was the best all round team performance of the season. In defence their tackling was resolute against girls who were in the main far larger than them. They also managed to get the ball away from the contact area quickly to allow the likes of Club, Jones, Ware and Bird time and space to use their blistering pace to good effect. The visitors simply could not deal with the power and pace of the North Hykeham Girls who ran out as deserved winners.
