“With around 20 minutes left of the match the girls knew they had time to get some more points on the board. The ball went flying through the hands of most the players on the pitch”
The time came for another league game for the Bracknell Ladies as they headed over the short distance to Marlow for their first encounter of the season. The girls weren’t just going for a game of rugby, they were going to put their heart on the line and bleed green for the shirt they pull on each week, and that’s exactly what they did.
Bracknell started with the kick off and a high ball into the air gave Shiv Jamison a lot of time to get under the ball and put pressure on Marlow straight away. Soon Bracknell were in possession and it was time to show Marlow what the girls are made of.
Crash balls from Amber Clark and Amanda Cooper with quick balls from the back of the ruck by scrum half Hannah Taylor kept the ball alive. With Megan RL playing at ten she soon saw space out wide and got the ball to Mia McCreesh who was first to get points on the board. 0-5 to Bracknell Ladies.
Marlow came back with a rolling kick on the floor, picked up by Zara King who drew Marlow players in before passing the ball to Shiv who outpaced Marlow’s backs with her head down speeding toward the try line before sliding over the line to get her first try of the season. A successful conversion from Mia made the score 0-12 to Bracknell Ladies.
Of course Marlow didn’t want to make this an easy game for the girls and they kept pressure on and in the end managed to get a turn over with their quick defence which resulted in a knock on. Marlow were next to get a try as they made the score 5-12 despite great defensive work from Mealsy Whitbread, Leanne Smith and Esmee Sturges.
Soon Bracknell regained possession of the ball from a stolen line out by Shona Webb. This gave the forwards a chance to run hard through the middle of the pitch, before great hands and strong running from Rachel Rickett & Esmee resulted in Mia getting yet another try, and also making a successful kick. The score was now a thrilling 5-19 to Bracknell Ladies.
Another rolling ball from Marlow Ladies allowed Tash King to pick it up and make yards through the Marlow players, with Amber in support she offloaded and Amber sprinted up the pitch to get her first try of the season as she out ran the Marlow players.
Half time score 5-24 to Bracknell Ladies.
Marlow were quick to come back in the second half as they reacted to drop balls and saw space out wide, they soon got two more tries and made the score a nail-biting 15-24.
Bracknell Ladies soon had possession of the ball, Tash and Zara carried the ball towards the try line with Mealsy and Amber in support. The ball was offloaded to Alice and she ran for the try line, and then ran past it! After a year out she had clearly forgotten the layout of the pitch, resulting in a 22 kick out from Marlow. This didn’t stop Bracknell, they laughed and then got their head back in the game as Mia soon saw space for her to power through and get yet another try. The score was now 15-29 to Bracknell Ladies.
With around 20 minutes left of the match the girls knew they had time to get some more points on the board. The ball went flying through the hands of most the players on the pitch with strong carries from Hannah, Zoe Young & Shiv the ball soon got to Mia and she managed to get another try on the board by a strong leg drive, with a successful kick making it 15-36 to Bracknell Ladies.
Marlow turned the ball over from a ruck and pushed Bracknell back to their try line. The girls held Marlow there for as long as they could with big defensive tackles and great counter rucking until Marlow made a break and the score became 20-36.
With ten minutes to go Bracknell didn’t want to end the game with a Marlow try. The girls had possession of the ball and were going to do everything in their power to keep it. They rumbled up the pitch with amazing carries from Kirsty Robson who played in the backs but moved into the forward pack. Soon Joy Westlake got the ball from a great pass and she stepped Marlow players and got a try. The score was now 20-41 to Bracknell with less than five minutes to go.
Again Bracknell had the ball and were offloading left right and centre before the ball went from Lauren Clark to Mealsy, to Zara who threw a miss pass to Tash before Joy caught the ball out wide again and got the final try of the game.
Final score Marlow 20-48 Bracknell
