Sunday the 28th of January was a great day for female rugby representation for the club. After a brilliant girls festival in the morning, the TJ’s Ladies completed a fantastic day with a 52-17 Win over Aylesford Bulls Ladies.

With some regular players unavailable/injured/away on holiday, the starting 15 was mixed up and had players trying new positions, which proved to be very successful for the result and personal development.

Before the game, during a brilliant and uplifting warm up, Captain Taz managed to win the toss which meant TJ’s started the game playing away from the glare of the Sun.

The ladies managed to secure a brilliant start to the match with Scrum Half Jules, squeezing through a tight gap to get 5 points after 5 minutes being played, but unfortunately just missing the conversion. 5-0.
3 minutes later after a turnover and some lovely offloads and quick ball, Fly Half Maddie, managed to go over the whitewash right underneath the posts, which made an easy 2 points for Jules to convert. 12-0.
TJ’s were very strong in the contact, but on a number of occasions in the first half, the tackles were made above the sternum, which resulted in a few penalties and then whilst in the TJ’s 22 area, Co-Captain Mary received a team Yellow Card.
TJ’s were down to 14 players, which allowed Aylesford to find some space out wide and score in the corner. 12-5.
After the restart, deep into the Aylesford half, TJ’s Welsh Dragon, Ame unfortunately allowed her wings to rise too high which resulted in another penalty conceded and a yellow card for a high tackle. TJ’s down to 13 players. Even though there were 2 more players on the Aylesford side, this did not stop the hosts from getting over the line to secure 7 more points. In the TJ’s 22 area once again, Outside Centre Remmie, saw a loose ball from Aylesford and decided to show off her footballing skills by dribbling all the way from the TJ’s 22 line to the Aylesford 5 metre line. There were protests that she got tackled without the ball which most likely would’ve resulted in her scoring the magnificent try, but luckily one of the stand out players of the match, Sammy, managed to retrieve the ball and dive over the line near the posts for Jules to convert. 19-5.

After some back and forth physical rugby and no points being scored for 19 minutes, with the referee calling last play of the half. Full-Back Mary managed to make up for her 10 minutes in the sin bin, by showcasing her iconic fast feet and sidestepping and running over the line after beating multiple defenders. And a great kick from Jules added the extras. 26-5 Half Time.

5 minutes into the second half, Inside Centre Charlie, playing with a different number on her back to her usual Second Row 4 or 5, managed a strong carry through some Aylesford players to smash her way over. Scrum Half Jules added the extra 2 points with the conversion. 31-5.

Aylesford then managed to gain 7 points back after some attritional play and finding a gap to go through for a converted try. 31-12.

A penalty just outside the Aylesford 22 gave TJ’s the opportunity to try out a new Tap Penalty move that Coaches Tom and Fi worked on in training. The NFL styled move, dazzled the Aylesford players as the forwards created a brilliant platform for borrowed Winger Rhi, from Gravesend, to go over the whitewash. With Jules adding 2 more points. 38-12.

After a multitude of penalties from Aylesford just after the 60th Minute, second row Rachel Marsh, saw an opportunity and took the quick tap 5 metres out to go over the line, nearly unopposed. Another conversion was made by Jules. 45-12.

Aylesford responded 10 minutes later with an unconverted controversial try as the linesman deemed the try assisting pass to be forward, but TJ’s weren’t phased and regathered themselves underneath the posts. 45-17.

4 minutes were left in the match, Coach Tom really pushed the girls to get over the 50 point mark, as it hadn’t been done this season yet. A really well worked team try, which involved forwards smashing it up, backs passing it smoothly and ended by another borrowed Gravesend winger, Tara making quite a few yards for a try in the corner. In the process of scoring Tara was victim to a high tackle which resulted in a yellow card for the Aylesford tackler, but not a penalty try, so Jules needed to make the hardest kick of the game to ensure that TJ’s got over 50 points. The placement of the tee was in the 5 metre channel at the side of the pitch, but Jules’ previous 15 points in the match, was capped off by a spectacular kick to put her points tally to 17 points. 52-17.

Full Time 52-17.

Player of the Match - Jess Booth
Standout players - Sammy Beaman and Jules Teague.

Congratulations to the Ladies for their 4th League win and thank you for a great game and good luck to Aylesford for the rest of the season.