Harlow Ladies 20 Southwold 5

RFUW Eastern Div 3

Harlow Ladies still on a high from the victory over the former league leaders Cambridge set off for the 100 mile plus trek to play Southwold. The home side having beaten Peterborough only a week before had three Div I Ipswich players guesting so tensions were high. The ladies knew they had a hard game of rugby on there hands.

Kicking off on a bitterly cold day play was concentrated in the middle of the pitch and the game was kept tight as the wind affected the play. From a number of scrums. Harlow kept good composure and scrummed extremely well against a very large Southwold pack. Commitment and determination paid off as Southwold's pack started to tire and the advantage soon became clear and Harlow was able to start to string some good rucking and passing play together. Harlow came under pressure when Sarah Wooton was forced to retire from the game following an injury. Down to only 14 players Harlow needed to switch it up a gear and keep the pressure on and again scrumming proved to be the best attack. Ten yards out from the try line number 8 Chloe Van-Dop picked up and passed to Nicky King who ran it in for Harlow’s 1st try and a 5 – 0 lead

After a poor restart from Harlow Southwold begin to wake up and started shipping the ball down the centre of the pitch taking advantage of the overlap from the missing players, with Kerry Cope now off for a blood injury.  Using their heavy forwards to full effect after 3 phases of play they had Harlow on the back foot and Southwold were rewarded with an easy try making it 5 all at half time.

Harlow needed to reshape and pull something very special out of the bag. Kerry Cope returned and the 2^nd half was started very positively. Attack was clearly the best from of defence. Rucking Southwold off the ball and constant pressure from the forwards proved to the best options Chloe Van-Dop broke blind and off loaded to skipper Kelly Cotterill who cheekily stepped inside to score Harlow’s 2^nd Try.

Being in the lead took the pressure off Harlow and they started to settle into the game not giving Southwold an inch and another try opportunity arose when Nicky King took the ball and ran 35 yards but was held up inches from the line. After a number of plays Harlow where reward a penalty. A quick tap and pass to Keighley Diprose who set up a maul allowed Tracy Lee an easy roll off to put the ball over the line and under the posts. In the high wind Nicky Millman was just wide with the conversion.

Southwold wanting to save face restarted well and put the ladies under pressure pushing them back into there own 22 yard line and camping there for 5 minuets. But they where unable to break Harlow’s great defence. Just to rub salt into the wound Harlow were able to take the ball from the back of a maul and pass it down the line to Keighley Diprose who set off on a 50 yard dash down the pitch. With a combination of dummies and side steps she put the ball over the line to give Harlow the final try of the day.

Tries:  Nichola King, Kelly Cotterill, Tracey Lee, Keighley Diprose

Team: 1. Sharon White, 2. Kerry Cope, 3. Clare Schneider, 4. Tracey Lee, 5. Franchesca Barnes, 6. Anne Ford, 7. Chloe Van Dop, 8. Kelly Cotterill, 9. Nichola King, 10. Keighley Diprose, 11.Emily Gizzi, 12. Sarah Wooton, 13. Sarah Stimpson, 14. Kym Hunter, 15. Nicola Millman

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