U14 Girls Dig Deep and Beat Stingers in Gripping League Final

Extra time thriller sees Sandy Bay edge the Stingrays and Tigers combination team

By Steve Hay

Sandy Bay met Stingers in the U14G League Cup final on Sunday. Stingers is the best of Sai Kung Stingrays and USRC Tigers combined. Sandy Bay opened the game with a big push and some strong and aggressive rucking, keeping the ball well into opposition territory. An attempt to clear the ball by Stingers was well caught by Haruka on the half way line (her first season for Sandy Bay) and run down the pitch for a successful try and conversion by Maia. With Stingers pulling a try back, Sandy Bay closed the first half with some strong and spirited defense of their try line and the score 7-5.

The second half saw more strong play with neither team giving an inch, Isabelle ran one over the line to move Sandy Bay up to 12 - 5. With girls from both sides now giving it absolutely everything they had, in the last seconds of the game Stingers broke through the Sandy Bay defensive line to score a try and subsequently conversion to level the score at 12 - 12.

Teams went into extra time time, looking for that golden try to end the game. From the start, Sandy Bay aggressively pushed deep into opposition territory with their best rucking all season. There then followed a fantastic team effort to get the ball out to Beatrice, who was able to cut through the Stingers line and put down the winning try. Final Score 17 - 12, cup win for Sandy Bay and undefeated all season for our U14 First XV girls. Player of the day was Anna, huge congratulations to all the girls and kudos and big thanks to Head Coach Tanya Dhar for leading the girls to victory.

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