Sunday 8th April Bracknell Ladies travelled to face Sutton & Epsom RFC. The girls knew that this would be a difficult match as the last time the two met Sutton and Epsom had the upper hand with speed on the wings and lack of confidence from Bracknell.
The team had hunger in their bellies to ensure that they showed the girls what they were made of and were ready to come back harder than the last time.
As the whistle blew at 14:30 a high ball from Amber Ledger and good chase from Siobhan Jamieson meant Sutton & Epsom had to think fast. They quickly got the ball out to the wing and made ground towards the try line. Great cover tackles from Masie Laslett and Leah Watts allowed Bracknell to push them back, but quickly the score became 7-0 to Sutton & Epsom.
In quick concession they scored two more tries by out pacing the girls and not taking the ball into contact. Soon Bracknell managed to get the ball in hand and starting flying towards the try line with great offloads from Mealsy Whitbread, Amber Clark and Esmee Struges. Sadly an interception from Sutton & Epsom meant that they soon were flying back to get more points on the board, despite more great cover tackles from Masie.
Sutton & Epsom continued to get the ball out to the wing to run round and get more points on the board.
The half time score was a disappointing 59-0.
After a half time talk from head coach David Rosi Bracknell knew they were going to have to work hard to turn this around. A high ball leading straight to the hands of Hannah Taylor allowed Bracknell to instantly gain the upper hand.
Sutton and Epsom managed to rip the ball and get more points on the board, but this half Bracknell had a fire in their belly and they weren’t ready to give up.
Crash balls from Helen Rosi, Caz Kirk and Siobhan Jamieson meant that Sutton & Epsom were being pushed back further with every ball carry. Twice Bracknell managed to get over the try line but the ball was sadly held up. A scrum in Bracknell’s favour meant the backs could carry the ball forward with great hard and fast running from number 10 Claire Gujer. Scrum half Hannah Taylor went in to support Claire and thanks to great thinking from Tash King a pick and go meant Bracknell were inches from the try line. Zara King then saw a gap in the defence and dived for the try line, getting the try for Bracknell Ladies. Esmee then stepped up for the conversion, which was successful.
Final score: 78 – 7
