Oxford – Old Leamingtonians Ladies: 0 - 43
There was no let-up for Old Leamingtonians Ladies this weekend as they continued their challenge for the top spot in Women’s Midlands 2.
This weekend’s match saw them traveling to Oxford, who ended above Old Leams in last year’s competition but are now struggling at the bottom of the table.
The match started badly for Old Leamingtonians when prop Michelle Ramsay injured her knee in the first scrum and had to be replaced by Mary Sugrue, a new recruit this year.
Old Leams did not waste much time and after 10 minutes, Scrum-Half Charlie Graham scored her first try of the after grabbing the ball from the back of a ruck and diving across the line.
The second try came not long after when excellent team work between forwards and backs saw Old Leams drive the ball up the park. Fly-Half Vicki Stokes eventually fooled the Oxford defense with a dummy to duck underneath the posts.
Oxford did not seem to have a reply to the Old Leams attack. And before half-time, Charlie Graham put her 2nd try of the day on the board. Captain and No. 8 Christie Honor picked up from the back of a scrum and pushed her way towards the try line. She off-loaded to Lock Marieke Vink who in turn fed Graham who worked the ball over the line.
At half time, OLs were 0-15 up but their rucks proved unstable and with 3 tries ahead, Old Leams were not able to assume the victory was in the bag.
The rucking improved little in the second half but Oxford were unable to capitalize on the errors.
After some messy rucking close to Oxford’s line, Lock Marieke Vink picked the ball up and ran around the blind-side to the Oxford try-line. Only a high tackle was able to stop her. The resulting penalty saw Old Leams spread the ball wide to the other side of the pitch via a couple of rucks. It was then passed all the way down the line where fullback Celina Bennett did a switch with winger Jenny Martin. Martin crossed the line for her first ever try. The try was sweet revenge for Martin who missed most of last season when she broke her collarbone against Oxford.
Kelly McLeod then added to the score and secured the bonus points when she scored after Inside Centre Charlotte Hewer created the space in midfield. McLeod ran all the way from the middle of the pitch to score between the posts. With her second conversion of the match, Stokes took the score to 0-27.
Oxford continued to battle their way through and they managed to break through the Old Leams defense. They came close to scoring when Old Leams failed to deal with yet another messy ruck. A good tackle pushed the Oxford attack in to touch, close to the OL’s 5 metre line with the resulting line-out clearing the ball to safety.
Lock Marieke Vink finished off her Player of the Match performance with a try after excellent support running, allowing Captain Honor to offload to Vink in a tackle.
Oxford kept their head up and continued to pressure Old Leams in the line-outs and rucks but it was Claire Penna who had the last word. In the Old Leamingtonians’ 22, the ball was booted up the field by McLeod. In an attempt to clear, the Oxford full-back kicked the ball in the air. With Inside Centre Charlotte Hewer and McLeod herself putting pressure on the Oxford defense, Penna managed to get hold of the bouncing ball and at full speed ran through the defense. The 4th conversion of the match brought the final score to 0-43 for Old Leamingtonians Ladies.
This win secures Old Leamingtonians at the 2nd place in the table in Women’s Midlands 2. This Sunday sees them playing Oakham, the only team in the league that is still unbeaten. In fact, Oakham have not yet conceded a single point this season. If Old Leams want to have a chance of winning the title this year, they MUST beat Oakham. OLs have a week to sort out their unstable rucking because Oakham will not waste the opportunities.
Ladies who want to play rugby, please email ladies@olrfc.co.uk |
