Massive congratulations to the girls and coaches in this afternoon’s convincing 14-2 victory over Loretto SS Letterkenny resulting in them being crowned Danska Bank Ulster School’s contact 7s Champions 2019.
ERGS Ladies Crowned Ulster Schools Champions
ERGS Ladies 7s team were crowned Ulster Schools champions at Kingspan after beating Letterkenny’s Loreto Secondary School. Coached by Aly and Terry Finlay, ERGS started clear favourites after winning each of the qualifying rugby tournaments. The X Field 7s match is a version of the 15 a-side game played across the pitch, rather than end to end. The space for players is much less and is similar to the space found in the 15 a-side game. Popular with schools as they only have to find a smaller number of players and with less emphasis on the restarting of the game using scrums, it is a very inclusive version of this great game.
Despite being strong favourites the coaches were taking no chances and prepared this team for all eventualities. From the outset, ERGS controlled the match. Their tackling was intense, double hitting each Loreto player when possible and driving them back. At rucks, if there was a hint that they could disrupt or steal a ball, ERGS were competing, with their skipper Katie Hetherington leading the way. When given a millimetre of space, the speedsters on the wing, Zara Flack, Lucy Thompson and Catherine Graham were away and scoring tries or making significant breaks. India Daley took a more direct route and went up the middle.
Played in 4 x 7 minutes’ sessions, the speed of the game was immense. Zara Flack and Catherine Graham opened the scoring in the 1st quarter. Katie Hetherington, India Daley (x2) Millie Cannings and Zara Flack put the game to bed in the 2nd quarter with tries. Katie Elliott, Zara Flack (x2) and India Daley scored tries in the 3rd quarter, with Zara Flack, Catherine Graham and Katie Hetherington finishing off the try scoring demonstration in the 4th quarter. Loreto managed to reply with 2 tries during the 3rd and 4th quarter.
ERGS came out winners 14 tries to 2, with a fantastic display of rugby as it should be played. Whilst the result shows the game was possibly a little one sided, it was down to the effort from the coaching team of Terry and Aly Finlay and from the girls alike who have been training hard from August. The preparation and the development of this team showed on the day.
Team-Katie Hetherington (Captain), Zara Flack , India Daley , Ellen Bloomfield, Lucy Thompson, Catherine Graham, Katie Elliott, Lois Egerton, Millie Cannings, Sarah Armstrong, subs: Rebecca Beacom, Jessica Genn and Emily Stewart. — with Aly Finlay.
