February 12th, 2007

The South East and East Midlands top the table after the first round of the Senior Regional Programme on February 11th.

The South East defeated the East 12-5 away from home while the East Midlands saw off the North West 10-5 to hand both teams the maximum five points.

On a cold and blustery day, the East Midlands capitalised on North West’s errors by forcing penalties while a quick penalty and back chat led to East Midlands rushing up the field with the backs executing a training pitch move which culminated in wing Chloe Cozens scoring an unconverted try. 

The North West, however, came back straight away, applying pressure to the East Midlands’ line. The North West elected to take a tap penalty which paid off with them scoring a try five minutes from half-time, making the score 5-5 at the break.

With the wind behind them East Midlands continued to put constant pressure on the North West’s line.  Intelligent kicking, good set piece and well executed back line move put the home side into a commandingly strong mauling position, controlled by scrum-half Rachel Mifsud, which saw her ground the ball only for the score to be disallowed by the referee. 

This, however, just made the East Midlands even more determined and their hard work eventually paid off with flanker Jen Grey scoring a well deserved try and claiming the winning score of the match.

Propping up the South East and the East Midlands are the South and Thames Valley in third and fourth position respectively after their 12-12 draw.

The first try came from a fumbled kick by Thames Valley’s scrum-half, and Sally Greenway’s immense tackle causing Thames to spill the ball which was then picked up by Charlie Veale who drove over the line to score. Clare Dennison converted.
 
Despite Thames Valley losing their fly-half to the sin-bin, the away team came back superbly as the South gave away a penalty. A fantastic break from the Thames’ wing and a grubber kick through the defence saw them gain ground, aided further by the penalty for tackling a player without the ball. With Thames choosing to go for the try, rather than the three points, their bravery paid off with a try.

In the second-half the South came back with confidence and determination. A break by Sally Greenway and a superb offload in the tackle to fullback Vicky Dibden, who popped the ball up to Laura Wilkinson, allowed the centre to score under the posts.

Thames Valley again bounced back taking the ball from a South line-out and with some good running from Thames they soon crossed the try-line. The try was converted to make the final score 12-12.

The second-round of the Senior Regional Programme takes place on the weekend of February 25th.

Senior Results Table