Well stone the flamin’ crows, footy fans – what a absolute rip-snorter of a local derby we had last Saturday the 25th when the Orrell St James U13 Girls piled across the Billinge lump onto the dark side and gave local rivals Thatto a proper old-fashioned touch-up!

Early kick-off paid off in spades – glorious sunshine, not a cloud in the sky, perfect footy weather for some red-hot rugby league. The girls came out breathing fire, put Thatto under the blowtorch straight away and bagged themselves a cracking brace of tries before the home mob could blink. Thatto hit back with a beauty in the corner, but Orrell just kept the blowtorch on full blast and finished the first half bossing the joint.

Loads of fresh faces coming off the bench – some brand-new to the game – but the coaches drip-fed ‘em in like master chefs so the momentum never missed a beat. Second half? Mirror image and then some! Balls zip-zapping through hands, training-ground plays executed to perfection, and poor old Thatto copped a world of hurt as our girls absolutely romped home to a thumping 50-8 victory. Talk about turning it on!

Quick shout-out to the Thatto fullback who copped a broken wrist – speedy recovery, champ, from all the Orrell crew. Legend.

Now the awards, and fair dinkum they were worth waiting for! Skipper-for-the-day Pippa led like a general with a heart the size of a house – kick returns that lit up the park, penetrating runs that cut ‘em to pieces, and a tackling machine on a mission with the motto “thou shalt not pass!” She cleaned up Top Tackler like it was her birthright.

Moment of the Match? Pure magic from Sophia W! Ball goes to the sideline, she jumps in at dummy half, picks it up and goes on a jinking, stepping, absolute beauty of a run to score straight from the ruck. Crowd went bananas!

Another Sophia, this time R, in just her second game, was an absolute gun – tackled her guts out and ran like the wind to snatch Players’ Player.

But the sensation of the afternoon? Skyava! The girl ran her blood to water, had energy to burn and then some. Massive runs, working the new plays inside and outside, slicing through Thatto’s defence like a hot knife through butter. Quick sit on the bench, she came back fizzing, burst through again and didn’t stop for a 60-metre special before they finally hauled her down. That earned her BOTH Parents’ and Coaches’ awards – and deserved every bit of it!

Uma was at her dazzling best too, side-steps and dummies that left Thatto in dizzy spells and picked up the Opposition’s nod for good measure.

Last week’s frustrations came pouring out in the best possible way – the girls were positive, clinical and absolutely ruthless. Unfortunately for Thatto, they were the ones standing in the firing line when the bullets started flying!

Next Saturday we head over to Hindley – tough nuts for sure, but after that performance the girls will be frothing. Let’s have it!

Up the mighty Orrell St James! These lasses are absolutely flying and the best is still well and truly ahead. See ya at the next one, ya mugs! ??