Oxford – Old Leamingtonians Ladies: 5 – 25

Honor sisters do the honours for Old Leams Ladies

Old Leamingtonians Ladies continued their good form with a 25-5 win over Oxford WRFC.

After a 2 week break from competitive rugby, OLs had to make a last minute change to the starting line up when Inside Centre Kelly McLeod had to step in as fly half due to illness. The entire Old Leams back line shifted and second row Katy Ingram moved to the openside wing.

Despite the changes, it only took 5 minutes for Old Leamingtonians to find the Oxford try line for the first try of the day. Kelly McLeod received the ball from the back of a scrum, ran wide across the pitch and when she wasn't challenged by the Oxford defence, decided to step inside again to break through and score.

A good start that held the promise of a high scoring game for Old Leams. But Oxford, fielding a large number of new players, defended extremely well and OLs were not pushing hard enough in the rucks to produce clean ball for scrum half Claire Penna. As usual, Penna remained unfazed by this and scored her own try after 10 minutes.  A penalty on Oxford's 22 metre line was taken quickly by Penna who sprinted through the disorganised Oxford lines to score. 0-10.

What followed was a veritable onslaught on Oxford's line with wave after wave of relentless Old Leams attack, from both forwards and backs. But once again the Oxford defence was solid and Old Leamingtonians were too eager to get the ball across the lines. Too many players wanted to go alone and the visitors were held up no less than 4 times in 7 minutes. Finally it was captain Christie Honor who managed to get the ball across the line for OLs third try of the afternoon. 0-15 and Oxford had not been out of their own half for the entire time.

Play remained scrappy in the rucks with both sides being penalised for using their hands on the floor and infringements of the off-side rules. Old Leams managed to get the ball wide a few times but it was dropped under pressure fromthe Oxford defence. With the game dominated by forwards-play, it was some sort of a relief for the backs that the 4th try was scored by outside centre Gemma Honor, following her sister Christie's try, 10 minutes earlier. From the back of a scrum, the ball reached the backs where Charlotte Hewer drew the Oxford defence in with a sharp dummy run, leaving Honor the space to run forward and cross the Oxford try line for her first try in a competitive match.

With half time approaching, Oxford had their scrum half sin binned for a high tackle.

The second half was played mostly in the Oxford half with OLs pressing forward but still not rucking over the ball enough. They lost a lot of possession in the rucks with Oxford throwing themselves onto the ball time and again. But OLs kept the pressure on, knowing they should be able to get a bonus point for scoring 5 tries.

But it was Oxford who scored next. After the scrum half returned to the field, Oxford had the ball at the back of a ruck on their own 5 metre line. A smart kick through the line saw the Oxford winger get her hands on the ball and sprint across the pitch for a touch down.

In past seasons, Old Leamingtonians Ladies have struggled keeping up their hard work when things were not going their way. Despite the hard work, the fifth try remained elusive. But OLs kept their heads up and kept pressing for the try that would get them a bonus point. It finally came, three minutes before the end of the match. After camping on the Oxford 5 metre line in a series of rucks, the ball was released to the backs and Player of the Match Pip Colenutt provided excellent support running and then passed the ball off in contact, to full-back Celina Bennett who scored under the posts.

Over all it was a good match with some very good work from Old Leamingtonians. They are now 3rd in the league and welcome Whitchurch at home this Sunday at The Crofts.

League table for womenMidlands 2 as of 19 November 2006