Hove U16s Fight Hard against Horsham Barbarians

On a bright, fresh and, at times, relatively-warm late September afternoon, Hove U16 girls took on a combined Horsham/Worthing/Pulborough u16 girls’ squad in a friendly match away at Horsham.

With the vast majority of Hove’s squad comprising new joiners moving up from last year’s u14 “Invincibles” team, and the Horsham Barbarians starting XV boasting 13 girls playing at this level for a second year, our girls knew that this match would be a tough, yet ultimately valuable, experience.

The first quarter started with a bang. Our u16s looping and passing with pace and precision to leave the Horsham defence chasing shadows at times. Impressive clearance kicking and on-the-line defensive resilience kept Horsham at bay time and time again. In many ways, the girls can feel unlucky that they finished the quarter 5-0 down.

The second quarter showed more fantastic character and controlled aggression in the forwards with the backs relishing the opportunities given to them by coaches Rene, Dan and Hector to experiment with new positions and new on-field partnerships. As expected though, the power and strength of an older, stronger and very large (both in size and number) opposition squad started to make gains in our half. At the end of the second quarter we were 15-0 down..but such was the positivity and fight by our girls that it didn’t feel as if there was much between the teams.

Quarters three and four saw more experimentation from both sides. With Hove girls finally getting their reward with a powerful drive from 5 metres.

While the score ended 36-5 to the Horsham Barbarians, our girls can be thoroughly proud of the way they played. Everyone - girls, coaches and supporters alike - came away having learnt more about a remarkable bunch of young athletes clearly ready to challenge themselves and play for the Hove badge with pride this season.