The game started well with one of Shelford’s new recruits Tia Martin kicking a penalty, and soon got even better with a well worked try. Quick ball and hard running led to another new recruit Michelle Wong falling just short of the line, but a good pass opened the space for captain Jen Worth to score her first of three tries. With the score at 8-0 the team continued to play well, creating chances and defending solidly. After a blatant piece of crossing, Thurrock were able to break the line and go over for their first try. The conversion left the score at 8-7 at the end of the first quarter. Both teams carried on playing good rugby after the break and it was Thurrock who took the first points with a penalty, but these were very soon cancelled out.

Some good forward play created the opportunity for scrum half Kim Stephens to cross the gain line, closely supported by Tia who gave a good pass out to Sarah Roper. She in turn did very well to set Jen up for her second try of the match. Tia converted the try leaving the score at 15-10 at the end of the second quarter. The third quarter was close and Shelford carried on creating chances that unfortunately they were unable to take. The defensive line was again held well with some brilliant tackles being put in from 1 to 15, most notably Donna Parkyn's tackle on someone twice her size!

Eventually though the line was breeched and Thurrock crossed for their second try which they also converted bringing the score to 15-17. One of the biggest and most noticeable improvements this season has been the levels of fitness of the team. At the start of the fourth quarter this really started to show. The forwards were still hitting the rucks hard and clearing Thurrock out well. This was leading to the scrum half having very quick ball which the backs were using to good effect. A clever piece of tactical kicking from Tia led to the ball rolling across the try line. It was then a foot race to see who could get there first which Thurrock’s centre won only to dive right over the ball as a result of the pressure Jen put on her with the chase leaving it lying there for debutant Bertille to fall on.

The scores were still very close with Shelford jus edging it 20-17 but from that moment on they never looked like losing. Janet Jackson and Sarah Roper had been causing the opposition problems all day and this continued throughout the last quarter. Janet broke the gain line once more with 3 or 4 people hanging off her. This resulted in space that Shelford were able to exploit and a passage of good passing eventually led to Jen crossing for her hat-trick to put the score at 25-17. Straight from the kick off Tia caught the ball and saw a huge amount of space on the right hand side of the pitch which she kicked the ball into with great precision. From the resulting line out the ball again found its way to Tia who delightfully dummy passed creating space for herself which she ran into leaving two Thurrock players for dead and scoring what was a well deserved try. A simple conversion capped off a good day for both the fly half and the rest of the team with the final result 32-17.

If Shelford carry on playing and improving as they have been and building on what they have already achieved, they have every chance of reaching those promotional aspirations.