Ladies 17
Saracens II 19

Playing on the top pitch Albion chose to play into the strong westerly wind in the first half and played well for the first 10 minutes with debutant Rebecca Rowe in the 4th minute of the match. The ball was taken against the head by Albion at the scrum on the centre line before passing to Rebecca to run in 40 plus metres to touch down under the posts.

A conversion by Nancy Stone from in front of the posts under difficult conditions.

On 12 minutes it looked as though Saracens were going to get onto the score sheet. With the man over Saracens made an attack on the Albion line but were stopped just 2 metres short before they pushed the visitors back 10 metres and cleared the ball out of the 22.

When Albion were penalised for offside in from of the posts Saracens centre took a tap penalty and caught Albion on the hop and brings the scores level. 7-7.

Just past the half hour Saracens took the ball over the line but a knock on or Albion touch down gave the hosts a scrum 5. This went against the head and Saracens centres again made the best if the opportunity touching down under the posts to go up 7 - 14.

Saracens went further ahead late in the first half when their Prop went over in the corner but the drop kick conversion attempt was not successful. 7 - 19.

In the 4th minute of the second half Saracens lost a player to the bin for persistent offending and Albion were quick to take advantage as they pushed the pack over the line for Nicky Dury to collect points on her debut. Bringing the deficit to just 7 points.

It seemed as though the Saracens binned player was off less than 10 minutes and that was without taking account of stoppages but she was allowed back on the pitch and the teams were level again.

On the hour with Albion spending a lot of time in the visitors 22 Albion took a tap penalty and a forwards move towards the line from just 10 metres out. After the move was blocked Albion on the 4th or 5th attempt passed the ball to full back Suzie Kendall for her to crash over the line just left of the posts. Unfortunately the wind affected the flight of the ball and Nancy's kick went just left of the posts.

With very little time added on despite the various injuries Albion made a number of further attacks on the line and were very unlucky not to have added to the score line.

Tristan Forster said after the match that he was proud of the team performance and the debutants played well in their 1st outing.

The ladies now have a 4 week break from league rugby but are hoping to set a friendly fixture to give the team a run out prior to their next home match against Bath on 17th February.

Team: Suzie Kendall, Sonia Clatworthy, Anna Clooke, Rebecca Rowe, Barbara Jensen, Nancy Stone, Georgina Rozario, Nicky Dury, Shea , Gail Randall, Megan Higgins, Hayley Wilson, Rachel Tucker, Verity Waters, Olivier Thomas Replacements: Jo Reddaway(used), Jenny March(used), Claire Steer(used)

Scorers :- Tries Nicky Dury Rebecca Rowe Suzie Kendall Conversions Nancy Stone

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