Judgement day had arrived. The day all the girls from both teams have worked towards all this season. Through all the drama of the weather causing games to be called off and making it difficult to train. It really is amazing that we have got to this final.
For both teams, it is a bit of a trek to Bideford, but we were warmly welcomed by our hosts.
You could feel the anticipation in the air, coaches and players alike eyeing the opposition. The weather for a change was bright and sunny with a slight breeze, the pitch was in good condition and with the plate final complete, it was time for these young athletes to get down to business.

The game started, with both teams nervy but with the intention to play. You could see from the outset that running rugby was going to be the order of the day. the forwards competing for everything and the backs looking to throw the ball wide. However, the initial attacks, either way, were met with equally strong defence with some bone crunching tackles.
With the game going back and forth it was DSRFC / Oaks who then put some strong phases of play together, Bo, bossing the forwards and passing to Maisy at 10 to set the backs running. Taylor, Beth and Amber taking the charge forward setting the pods and resetting, pushed Crediton back within their own 22. It was another phase from the ruck to set the backs off with Maisy feeding Alice with a step to go through and going over the line with defenders hanging off her to get the 1st score.
Crediton fought back straight away and with the aid of a few handling errors found themselves camped in the DSRFC / Oaks 22. With heavy pressure from Crediton, it was DSRFC / Oaks who managed to eventually turn the ball over and for all Creditons hard work, came away pointless.
The game continued at a blistering pace, with the ball frequently getting to the wings, Freya and Emily making good ground only to be continually shut down by some great defence. With DSRFC / Oaks pressing at every set piece, scrums, Molly commanding the pack, Daisy and Annabelle the cornerstones at prop, and the lineouts with Merryn, salmon like at the front jumper and frequently stealing opposition ball gave Crediton a lot to think about.
It was DSRFC / Oaks who then struck again, showing how they can shift the ball from one side to the other, it was on the far left, Abbie getting the ball wide with still a lot of work to do, dancing down the touchline showing so much strength not to be taken into touch, crossing in the corner.
After another push from DSRFC / Oaks, Crediton at one point stuck on their own line made a massive push forward with one of their players pretty much destroying DSRFC / Oaks breaking through from their own line got through with only Indie in defence against Crediton's biggest player, Indie made a huge tackle to stop them in their tracks.
With nothing much to split these two teams, it was this time Crediton's error, to give a penalty close to their own line, with quick thinking Beth took a quick tap, coming out wide right, with a square in the chest hand off, sitting the tackler down, and crossing for to make it 15 - 0 going into the half time.
With a large squad and a lot of changes being made For DSRFC/ Oaks Caitlin and Megan having had a good day departing for Polly and Merran in the forwards. Erin, Lily, Gracie and Olivia coming on in the backs.
It was no surprise that the 2nd half started with Crediton coming out fighting. Pushing deep into DSRFC / Oaks half. but again from some good work particularly by the pack DSRFC / Oaks found themselves in the Crediton 22.
And with some lovely hands from the backs put Olivia in the right hand corner.
It was time for Crediton to show what they can do. They pushed DSRFC all the way up the park onto the opposition 5-metre line, and giving another penalty away Crediton pounced to cross to take their first spoils of the day.
From the kick off, DSRFC / Oaks played the phases back into the Crediton half, but a handling error gave Crediton the scrum. From that, Maisy having moved from 10 to the flank, broke off and charged down the attempted clearance kick, with new to the field Olivia having scored one try, scooped it up and with a beautiful offload saw Alice coming bursting through to score her 2nd.
The game now going very much in DSRFC / Oaks' favour, it wasn't long before we were back in enemy territory. To note with a couple of massive defensive tackles from Polly and Erin driving the attack back.
Continuing to push forward, lineouts with Bea's accuracy throwing in and scrums still strong with Bella, Bea and Taylor now fronting up.
With about 10 minutes to go, DSRFC / Oaks did not let up, and from an amazing run from Erin going down the left hand side making huge gains only to be taken down heavily, unfortunately from injury, having to leave the field after a short but hugely impactive input.
From the subsequent play the ball came wide right, and then Bo offloaded to Molly at the head of the pod to burst through and score under the posts.
Beth having such a hard day from scores out wide, comfortably slotting the 2 points.
From the next kick off, and with virtually no time left on the clock, DSRFC / Oaks pushed again. and from several phases of keeping the ball alive, from the forwards in the ruck to the handling of the backs saw Alice go wide left, with Gracie in support, but Alice going over for her hat-trick of the day.

final score.
DSRFC / Oaks 39 - Crediton 5.

A huge thank you to Crediton, a formidable opposition, all the players, the parents who travel / transport / fund their daughters.
A particular mention to Bideford RFC who were absolutely awesome in their hosting and their hospitality for today's plate and cup final.