Harlequin Ladies had a frustrating start to their league campaign, losing to a new team in the league, Lakenham Hewitt, after a promising pre-season build up writes Rhiannon Needham.

Lakenham Hewitt kicked off and immediately put pressure on Quins in their own half, which set the trend for the majority of the game. Quins suffered a major setback after just 6 minutes when scrum half Cally Hocknell was injured, forcing play onto an adjacent pitch. Lakenham took the lead by scoring a try and conversion after ten minutes. Soon after, Vicky Gallagher stole the ball in a Lakenham lineout, but the pressure told on Quins and the ball went back into touch. After a knock on by Lakenham, Quins picked up the ball and drove the ball forward, testing the opposition defence for the first time in the game. Quins continued to pressurise the visitors, but were out-muscled at the breakdown.

Following a Quins knock on, Lakenham were awarded a scrum on the Quins 22. The scrum half saw an unmarked blind side and Quins' back row were too slow to react to the inevitable two against one overlap allowing Lakenham's winger to score in the corner. Quins lineout failed to function properly all day and a missed opportunity on their throw lead to a try by Lakenham's centre after quick recycling by their forwards just before the half time whistle.

Quins kicked off the second half but a scrum to Lakenham soon saw their centre storm through for another try. After the re-start Quins were awarded a penalty and Quins hooker, Kirsty Rennison, made a run down the left wing but the offload was knocked on and another scoring opportunity went begging for home side. After a rare Quins lineout win, second row Helen Cushion carried the ball upfield, breaking a number of tackles but lack of support meant another turnover. Despite being a much lighter pack, Quins had scrummaged well all day and given Lakenham a hard time, but unfortunately began to come under renewed pressure. Quins' woe was compounded when Lakenham ran in a further 3 tries.

Quins dug deep and showed their grit & determination in the final 10 minutes, despite the game being well and truly lost by this point. A monster tackle by new centre Miriam Maclennan forced a turnover by Lakenham and Quins came near to scoring in the dying minutes, but found no way through the huge defence.

Captain Vicky Gallagher commented, "Whilst the final score is far from flattering for us, there are a lot of positives to take from this game. It was honours even in the scrummaging despite us being a far smaller pack and I was very pleased to see the determination in defence right up to the final whistle. It's testament to that defence that the margin wasn't much greater as Lakenham had the vast majority of possession during the 80 minutes. With so many new faces in the starting lineup this season, we must have patience whilst the team gels".

Michelob Ultra Man of the Match - Kay Rees

For more information about the Harlequin Ladies contact us on quinsladies@hotmail.com or go to our website www.harlequinladies.co.uk