Sun. 12th January. Women’s NC 1 South West St Mary’s Old Boys Ladies 103 Westbury Ladies 0
Westbury ladies travelled to St Mary’s for their first meeting in years.
With St Mary’s near the top of the league, and having last season vied to advance to the higher league, we knew it would be a tough game. With injuries starting to deplete the Westbury Ladies squad they travelled without any subs.
The final score was St Mary’s 103 Westbury Ladies 0. The score doesn’t reflect how well the Westbury Ladies played and it was an all-round strong performance, which slowed St Mary’s try scoring abilities at times. St Mary’s had speed round the outside which they used to great effect. They also were able to take advantage of Westbury Ladies dropping to 14 players for about 40 minutes, before they kindly lent us Sarah and Emily allowing Westbury to sub a player off and increase numbers to 15 a side again.
Some highlights from the game despite the score were: – Some great “taxi” balls which made good ground; strong mauls; some of the best tackling all season; great hands from the backs; great improvements at the rucks and some steals made; strong kicking to corner; keeping St Mary’s under pressure and forcing a well drilled team to make mistakes; diving onto loose balls and quick reactions; speed getting back on side after a St Mary’s line break; fun in the mud. The crowds on the side-lines enjoyed the acrobatics and splits.
Congratulations to Amy Bates and Maeve Taylor who were awarded forward and back of the match respectively for their all-round strong performances. A special mention to Georgia Fuke on her first game for Westbury Ladies since returning from a serious illness.
Thanks to St Mary’s for lending Westbury Ladies Sarah and Emily.
Our thanks must go to the travelling supporters who never stopped cheering the girls on from the sideline.
The ladies are playing at home on Sunday 2nd February to Devizes, K.O. set for 2.30pm. As always, we hope to see you all there.
