REPORT FROM COACH BILLY HENDERSON

THE MATCH

This match report will start with the score at 19-34 to Dumfries and only 7 minutes to go. Louisa has 5 minutes left on her yellow card. All day the team had put the work in, but now they thought of their missing teammate Libby and upped the effort.

The strong girls became stronger and didn’t half carry the ball hard. 3 quick scores. Megan powered over, Louisa back on, Evie skipped in, Anna converted. 33-34 to Dumfries.

A series of scrums on the Dumfries line. Anna bashes up and offloads to Eva who dot down under the posts. 38-34 to Annan. conversion charged down. 

Final Whistle – Myself (Billy), James, Nicole and Terri are in tears. The girls run over to use shouting we did it, we did it. A group hug ensued – these moments are priceless in life.

THE TEAM

Marnie – Told be nice in life but when you step over the white line, no niceties, use your ability, aggression. Got her first try in her rugby career

Aylish – Try scorer. Fast around the pitch. Does more than you would expect from a hooker

Megan – Try scorer. Awesome and determined. Set her stall out well for our comeback

Calise – Good work in the scrums and open play. Found a few gaps to go through. Wants the number 4 shirt to be hers. More training and its achievable

Louisa – Big boy performance. Upset to be injured off in the first half. We were all happy when the Doctor declared her fit to return

Josie – Always key to our strong scrum. We chatted before hand about the team restricting our kicking but not Josie. She is allowed to kick when she sees fit. Injured off with a head knock

Shaenah – Captain. Had one of her hardest days at the back of our scrum. Put under a lot of pressure by Dumfries scrum half. No complaints from her. Worked her socks off as always. Excellent post match interview in the Bill McLaren Suite – mentioning our team mate Libby who could not make the day.

Evie – Just back from injury. Skipped in and got a very important score. Composed performance from our 10

Eva – Found a lot of space during the game. Held on well in a few tackles. Scored the winning try. Famous rugby playing Uncle was impressed!

Emily – Great pace and agility from the centre. Skipping up the wing a few times and fearless tackler. Took a head knock and injured off

Maddy – Also great pace up the wing and good tracking back to put in crucial tackles. Injured hand (possible dislocated finger)  forced her into Murrayfield Medical Centre. A good bit of taping up of fingers by the Doctors had her back on the pitch

Pagan – Dark horse of a player – excellent pace up the wing and along the try line to dot down under the posts. Excellent work to chase and catch a few Dumfries breakthroughs. An Annan Girl who stays in Dumfries

Jessica – Not a regular trainer or player but fits in well to the team. Tackled and carried well. Probably one of the most important players in the team

Anna – MOM Performance. Kicked a few conversions. Had a wee performance drop off midway through there 2nd half but raised her game for the team

BILLY’S THOUGHTS

In sport you can have good and bad days. Today was a good day. We only train once a week and had 2 extra training sessions before the final. I can’t imagine how much better we will be if we can train more.

This team is young with only 2 moving up to U18 rugby next season. A few experienced U14’s will move up to U16 age level. However to step up a level we need more girls.

If any girl fancies joining the team – get in touch with myself (Billy Henderson) or Annan Rugby Club. We have a few social events during the year with next years one hopefully a rugby tour to Wales.

Also thanks to all the parents, supporters and friends who supported us on the day. Dumfries for an excellent game. Match officials for doing a great job and Annan Rugby club for giving us a guard of honour on our return.

And finally us coaches are so proud of the girls. We know their usual skill and performance level during games but on Sunday everyone stepped up

Annan U16 Girls – National Shield Champions 2023