Westbury Ladies V Swanage and Wareham Old Boys Ladies
HAVING not played any competitive rugby games since March 2019, to say the Ladies were excited is an understatement
Boots were polished, hair was plaited, and shirts ironed for the first game of the league as Westbury Ladies were welcomed Swanage and Wareham Old Boys Ladies to the club for the first time.
The sun was shining on Knott Field, the home of Westbury RFC, when the ladies kicked off. The first 20 minutes were a little slow for both teams as the Ladies got back into the swing of things. No progress was made by either team to get past the halfway line and there were a few balls dropped. As nerves began to settle, the backs showed some lovely hands and Swanage and Wareham made a break. After Westbury Ladies regained control, debutant Jordan Frayne, broke through the competition’s defence before being brought down.
After the ball changed hands a few more times, Lana Plummer secured the opposition’s ball at a ruck which led to Chantelle Rugman making a break before passing the ball to debutant, Beth Dombkowski, to complete the try which was converted by Beth making the score 7 0. A lineout saw Swanage and Wareham attacking and, while Westbury Ladies defence held for a while, the opposition found a hole and crossed the line. This brought the score to 7 5.
More tries for Westbury Ladies followed in quick succession, with one for Chantelle Rugman and another for Lana Plummer. This took the score to 17 – 5 at half time.
The second half saw line breaks from Georgia Fuke, Lana Plummer, Mariana Mosquera and from debutant, Rebekah Trevis-Smith. Swanage and Wareham fought back and there was some fantastic rugby on show from both teams, much to the delight of the large crowd. Westbury Ladies’ defence held, and Lana Plummer soon crossed the line for her second of the day taking the score to 22 – 5, unconverted.
It was Georgia Fuke who closed the day’s proceedings with a final try which was unconverted. This brought the final score to 27 – 5.
Congratulations to all the debutantes, including Kelly Latham and Becca Levy, who had their first taste of league rugby.
Westbury Ladies wish Becca Levy, a speedy recovery from her foot injury which she picked up in the first half of the game.
The Back of the Match went to Chantelle Rugman and the Forward of the Match to (the back who came off the wing to play flanker) Lauren Balchin. We hope to be able to tempt Lauren over to the dark side of the forwards again soon.
