Harlow Ladies 48 Chelmsford Ladies 10

(29th March 2009)

RFUW SE Eastern Div III

Following the success of Harlow’s First team the day before and the outstanding contribution their illustrious coach made scoring the opening trying which turned the tided of Harlow’s misfortune, the ladies knew they had a lot to live up to.

In near perfect rugby conditions and with revenge in their eyes Harlow took the field with a score to settle and to prove they where the team to beat for the top spot of South Eastern Devision 3.

Starting hard Harlow took the game straight to Chelmsford and battled well against some heavy forwards. After only 10 minutes into the game from a  scrum Millman took great ball drawing the defence and popping clean to Davina who with a great little pass popped it to Stimpson who looped round to run in the first try.

Chelmsford clearly shocked from this simple try stepped up the pressure and drove hard with some good crash ball but with a handling mistake followed by poor tackling Davina was able to pick up and slip through the defence to score her first of three tries of the day. A simple conversion from Gizzi put the score at 12-0

Never the team to lie down and die Chelmsford pulled themselves together and started to fight back. Changing from defensive play and moving to a heavy attack from both forwards and backs and taking full advantage of a messy defence after Conway was taken off injured it wasn’t long before a defensive mistake rewarded Chelmsford with an unconverted try.

Harlow now had the wakeup call they needed, with the ball in their hands and doing what they do best the excellent pace of Harlow’s backs proved too much for Chelmsford, from a simple set piece the ball was passed through the hands and found its way to the supersonic speed of Abi, with an excellent side step which left the Chelmsford winger standing on her own Abi powered pass her to run in her first try of the day, a simple conversion from Gizzi put the score at 19 -5

Keeping on the pressure and less than 5 minutes later a good passing combination from Stimpson to Davina back to Stimpson split the defence in half, all that was needed was a cheeky pop pass to Abi who run in her second try. A conversion from Gizzi put the half time score at 24 – 5

With the game all but won in the first half all Harlow needed to do was coast the second half, but Chelmsford wasn’t dead and buried yet. A blistering attack right from the kick off put Harlow under pressure which took them totally off guard. Showing fantastic sprit Chelmsford was less then 5 yards from a well earned try until and handling error found Stimpson with the ball. Running it from her own try line Stimpson showed incredible pace as she run in a soul destroying converted try.

Harlow now able to mix things up and allowing the forwards to have some fun resulted in a well executed try, taken up by captain Kelly Cotterill from a maul she gave great ball to Stimpson and a simple pass to Davina who crashed through he back line to run in her second of the day, another cleanly struck conversion put the score at 38 -5

 With a comfortable lead now in place Harlow made 2 substitutions allowing new to rugby Stevie Doherty and Emma O’Donnell to make their Harlow debut. Both with first time jitters showed great promise as both got stuck in carrying the ball and putting in some great tackles. This helped Stimpson run in her third try of the day.

Harlow now almost forgiven for sitting back and relaxing believing the game was in the bag where shocked when the great spirit of Chelmsford fought back to score an unconverted try. Minutes later though Harlow showed there true dominance when Abi after yet another simple pass though the hands found herself running in her hat trick and last try of the game.

Final Score 48 – 10

Although Harlow made short work of Chelmsford to put them 2nd in the league this will not be the case next Sunday (5th April) When the South Eastern League 3 decider against Deeping will be held at Harlow. Deeping with a very powerful set of forwards are not to be taken lightly nothing short of 100% commitment will ensure a Harlow victory which they are more than capable of achieving. So come down and support the girls.

The Team

1. Sam Acraman
2. Carla Souch
3. Sarah Lucus
4. Clarie Lacey
5. Tracey Lee
6. Emily Gizzi (4 cons)
7. Keighley Diprose
8. Kelly Cotterill (Capt)
9. Niki Millman
10. Sarah Stimpson (3 Tries)
11. Abi Perry (3 tries)
12. Davina McLellan (2 tries)
13. Rebecca Conway
14. Donna Mercer
15. Dani McKenna
16. Paulette Tovy (Sub 50 mins)
17. Emma O'Donnell (Sub 15 mins)
18. Stevie Doherty (Sub 15 mins)

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