A great performance, great match, and a great result.

Surrey Cup Round 4 saw the Barnington Bears cluster of Harlequin Amateurs, Barnes and Teddington travel to the Rock, home of Rosslyn Park, to face the Battersea Ironsides/Rosslyn Park cluster on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning. The honour of being the first ever girls home match for Rosslyn Park at their own ground added extra excitement.

After a fantastic training session with Emma Swords arranged by Barnes two weeks previously with a focus on defence, and a tackling-focused session last week with our Lions and own coaches from Barnes and Teddington, the Bears were itching to get their first victory in a cup match in the final round.

It wasn't a great start though as the opposition tore through our defence straight from kick off to open the scoring. Never let it be said that the girls let their heads drop though as they fought back straight away with a wonderful effort from Pamela, fending off along the way, before she got another. The first quarter finished with Sophie scoring from a quick tap free kick, side step and a run in from our own line to go into the quick break 1-3 up.

One try apiece in the second quarter took us into half time 2-4 up and there was all to play for. A quick pep talk, water and a Haribo or two, the second half got underway with a weaving run from one end of the pitch to the other for Pamela to get her hat trick. Followed up by first tries of the Cup for Florence and Katriona, a third also for Sophie and the game was called as per cup rules at 2-8.

With agreement with coaches and the referee, the remaining time was played out, with Pamela and Sophie both claiming one more score each. Battersea/Rosslyn came out firing though and with the loan of a couple of players to level the sides out after an injury, a fun final quarter saw the final score 10-5.

A match where everyone contributed, and it was a pleasure to watch. Strong carriers, a stunning level of tackling - compared to where we were at the beginning of the season it was night and day. Great commitment in the rucks and a much more structured defence really showed the power of team work - and some real team-effort tries as well showed they hadn't forgotten how to pass and score. Too many names to mention but wonderful to see some new try scorers and everyone looking so happy. Especially the coaches and parents who were all hugely proud of the girls and how far they've come along as a cluster. Only 10 weeks ago these three sides had never played a match together.

Pamela was voted player of the match by Battersea Ironsides/Rosslyn Park, Florence got the Coaches Player award and the whole team were commended for their defensive efforts - which will definitely cost the coaches in sweets and cakes.

Thanks must go to those Bears players who volunteered to finish out the game playing for the opposition, without any complaint at all, and many thanks to Rosslyn Park for hosting and to them and their cluster partners for showing tremendous TREDS values - and congratulations to them on hosting their first ever girls match at The Rock! May there be many more.

With the pool rounds of the Cup now over for the Bears, we can look forward to training and some friendlies over the next few weeks, before finals day at the end of April. And of course, the all important tour needs to be planned...