The afternoon started to look promising as Harlequins kicked off and immediately put Chesham under pressure.  Wing Karen Cardy opened the scoring for the home side after 3 minutes by outpacing the opposition out wide.  After that it started to go down hill for Quins.  Despite superb challenges in the scrums and lineouts, they became lethargic at the breakdowns and in defence.

The control and patience they demonstrated against Ipswich last week was not evident as they let Chesham get the better of them and the game became scrappy.  Chesham capitalised on this, scoring a try out wide from a penalty on the half way line in the 20^th minute, successfully converting it.  Quins ill discipline at the breakdown frustrated their spectators as the home side were penalised several times for being offside.  Chesham finally took advantage of this by successfully kicking a penalty awarded to them in front of the posts.

The coach’s half time talk evidently gave Quins the boost they needed.  In the second half they were dominant in both attack and defence, as they regained control and played to their strengths, blowing Chesham out of the water.  Centre Kay Rees caught the visitors by surprise as she intercepted a pass in the opposition twenty-two to run in and score between the posts.  Fly half Amy Gibbons successfully converted.  Minute’s later fullback Miriam MacLennan added to the Quins tally by scoring a superb try out wide as a result of brilliant support play.

Chesham tried to kick themselves out of trouble several times, but Rees surprised them again by scoring from a kick she charged down.  The opposition didn’t know what hit them.  Quins continued to use their pace out wide, combined with forward and back interplay to score twice more - Cardy from an overlap, with Rees completing her hatrick.   Gibbons took her tally of conversions to four out of six.

Head Coach Nick Hyde commented, “The commitment and hard work shown in training has started to pay dividends on the field.  Team spirit is excellent.  The self-belief is there now.  Overall, performance has improved with each game.  It was nice to get a bonus point today, especially the manner in which it was achieved; we played for the full 80 minutes.”

Harlequin Ladies next match is at home to Wasps 2 on Sunday 22 January 2006.

Michelob Ultra MOM:Kay Rees

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