By Cally Hocknell
October 5 2005

For the superstitious Harlequin members, the new look Twickenham Stoop promised to bring victory and camaraderie to its players. Harlequin Ladies were rewarded with an impressive crowd of supporters itching to see the Ladies play after a successful men's match at home to Doncaster. The first half started in a familiar scrappy way, with Quins struggling to make use of the ball in the opening exchanges. However, Quins quickly fine tuned their focus and the action followed suit. The forwards put in a stronger challenge at the rucks and the backs retained the ball well. For the majority of the first half Quins pinned Ipswich in their 22.

Ipswich played a patient game despite injury set backs, but suffered a string of handling errors under pressure. A simple but affective backs move saw Kay Rees thunder over the try line to open up the string of tries soon to follow.

Pippa O'Regan worked hard to carry the ball forward and scored a textbook try in between the posts, which Cat Smith successfully converted. However, there was no time for complacency, in the unfamiliar winning territory, Quins kept their defence solid despite a few threats from Ipswich.

O'Regan instigated a further push forward before popping the ball to fellow forward Helen Cushion. Cushion ran a beautiful ball up the wing, drawing in two Ipswich defenders before off loading onto winger Rhiannon Needham who finished the try with remarkable expertise despite it being her first try of the season.

The second half was by no means overshadowed by the first; the supporters cheered heartily and the players kept their heads. Prop Chevonne Rennison pulled off her trade mark try by driving off a ruck on the 10m line, with more than one Ipswich defender in her wake!

Quins flirted with the prospect of a second try from O'Regan, but it was disallowed for being held up. Ipswich continued to defend the relentless effort throughout the second half with some sharp breaks from their backs. Quins responded well by defending as a flat line and forcing handling errors among the visitors, leaving the 22-0 score unanswered and sealed victory for Quins at the final whistle.

The full time score and smiles after the game reflected the effort put in by Quins Ladies to secure their first league victory of the season. Ipswich travelled far and still played a tough game; and Quins certainly had to earn their points. It was only on Saturday that the team gave a taste of the terrier attitude and team effort yet to come. However, the team are keen not to get carried away and there is still a lot to work on going into next week's away game to Chesham.

For more information about the Harlequin Ladies contact us on quinsladies@hotmail.com or through our website www.harlequinladies.co.uk.