Ladies 17 Richmond II 25

On the face of it this may not be considered a good result but if you were there you would think different. This was their first game of the season and the first under the IRB ELVs 

Albion Ladies play in Championship South which is just one level down from Premiership and hence find it difficult to find opponents for friendly matches which has meant that for the second season on the trot they have been forced to hone their match skills in a league match.

The first half saw them defend well but give away a number of penalties which Richmond converted into points on the board. An early penalty attempt for Albion that bounced back off the cross bar was very disappointing.

10 mins in Richmond scored the first points when they took the ball from the left hand side to pop the ball over the line 5 metres right of the posts and was left unconverted.

A kick forward by Albion was fumbled by the Richmond full back under the posts and she had to rush to touch the ball down before the attackers got there. Unfortunately the fumble was not spotted by the ref and he awarded a 22 dropout. 

On 15 minutes Richmond were caught offside and this time Beth Simmons made no mistake putting the ball right between the posts. Richmond put on another 6 points from penalties on 20 and 25 minutes.

Richmond made the best of the scrum and took the ball off the back and converting into a driving maul took the ball over the line just inside the right hand touch line. A touch line conversion took the scores to 3 - 18 which is where it remained at halftime.

Albion came out after the turn around playing far more open rugby and passing the ball wide when the opportunity arose.  Despite being harshly reduced to 14 players for a professional foul Albion stayed on the front foot. Georgie Rozario took the opportunity of a quick penalty from 30 metres out to score an individual try  in the opposite corner.

Fortunes were with Albion as Beth's conversion kick from the right hand touch line bounced off the left hand post to go between the posts. In the last play before Albion returned to 15 Richmond made use of the overlap to score in the left hand corner and then converted to make it 10 - 25.

Albion had another penalty awarded this time just to the right of the posts and on the 5 metre line. Luckily the ref saw the quick tap out the corner of his eye and Georgie went over to collect her second try. Beth's conversion took the final score to 17 - 25. With just 8 points between the teams Albion pick up a losing bonus point.

Whilst there was some disappointment in the result there were many positives that could be taken from the match and the team will grow as the season progresses.

Head Coach, Gav Boak, said after the match that the team learnt from the first half and in the second and they were avoiding the forwards and playing the ball wide.

The squad will be working on team cohesion and self believe over the next two weeks before they face Old Albanian Saints at home on Sunday 5th October.

As someone watching from the sidelines this was a far more entertaining match than I saw at Monks Lane just 24 hours before. So well done and keep it up and there should be a few more spectators at your next home match if everyone spreads the word.

Team: Bethan Ayling, Sonia Clatworthy, Beth Simmons, Becca Rowe, Steph Morgan, Nancy Stone, Georgina Rozario, Hayley Wilson, Jo Holden, Vee Thompson, Megan Higgins, Jenny March, Verity Waters, Rachel Tucker, Terri Cormack Replacements: Emma Clack(used), Claire Crowther(used), Kim March

Scorers: Tries Georgina Rozario(2) Penalty Beth Simmons, Conversions Beth Simmons(2)

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