Bracknell Ladies were eagerly awaiting Abbey Ladies’ arrival at Lily Hill Park ready for their second friendly of the season. Sadly due to frozen pitches it was thought that the game would be called off, however quick thinking from the two teams meant we were able to play a 60 minute game over at Abbey RFC instead.
The whistle kicked off the two teams at 14.45 and quickly we could see this would be an exciting contest. Great defensive play from both teams meant nobody was able to get point on the board until some good moves from Tash King, Leanne Smith and Zara King allowed Bracknell to build momentum. A quick ball from Helen Rosi off the back of a ruck saw Shiv Jamieson get the first try of the match for Bracknell, with a successful conversion by Esmee Sturges.
Abbey managed to rip the ball from Bracknell hands and were soon pushing Bracknell backwards. Abbey saw a gap in the defence and sped through to get their first try which was successfully converted. Bracknell responded quickly to Abbey with great carries from the team allowing them to take the lead with a try from Amber Clark.
Abbey soon showed Bracknell their pace as they whipped round the wings and managed to get three tries in quick succession with two successfully converted. Despite big hits and good chases from the Bracknell side, they just couldn’t match Abbey’s raw speed. Bracknell were down 26-12 and knew they would have to dig deep to pull the score line back in their favour.
Great tackling and quick play from both teams meant getting through the defensive line in the game wasn’t easy, but Bracknell weren’t fazed as they finally managed to break over Abbey’s gain line and regain some ground. A scrum in Bracknell’s favour meant the backs could use some of their moves but Abbey quickly smothered the Bracknell attack. The forwards came to support and carried the ball well with great support play from all players. Shiv Jamieson soon saw a gap in the defence and crashed over the line for her second try of the match. Esmee Sturges followed this up with a successful conversion.
A quick tap & go penalty on the 5 metre line from scrum half Helen Rosi allowed the ball to find its way to the hands of Shiv Jamieson who crashed through the Abbey defence to get her hat trick. The conversion was successful which meant at the half-time whistle the scores were level on 26-26.
As the second half kicked off Bracknell sparked into life with fantastic offloading to confuse Abbey and get over the gain line. Bracknell soon created another scoring opportunity from great runs by Mealsy Whitbread, Zoe Young, Amber Clark and Esmee Sturges. The ball found its way to Leanne Smith who crossed the whitewash to make it 31-26 to Bracknell after an unsuccessful conversion.
Despite tiring bodies Bracknell continued the good work to ensure that Abbey didn’t get the chance to turnover or rip the ball from Bracknell hands. Textbook crunching tackles from Abbey pushed back Bracknell but a turnover ball created space for Leah Watts & Hannah Taylor to run fast through the Abbey defence with the ball finding captain Tash King to carry it over the line for the last score of the match after an unsuccessful conversion.
Thanks must go to Abbey for enabling us to play this match after all. Both teams have drastically improved since our last meeting in October and we are looking forward to the rematch soon!
Final score: 36 – 26 to Bracknell Ladies
Forward of the match: Shiv Jamieson
Back of the match: Leah Watts
