A brief trawl through the Junior Cup results revealed that the visitors to Stafford Park had made mincemeat of all the teams they had played so far in the competition which was undoubtedly explained by the presence in their ranks of three Irish international sevens players. The supporters and players of Cullompton Ladies should not however remember the day for the score at the break of 0-28 but for the gutsy resolve and belief the Cullompton players exhibited to put a big deficit behind them and win the second half 12-7.

It was an unusual game in several ways. The five Reading tries were all scored from their own half with the scorers, fly half Annette Tomas, centre Alice Denton and winger Haley Mathews all proving too fast to catch which was tested when the Irish international flanker Tomas won the footrace to the line with Cully’s fly half and fastest girl, Charlotte Green. Territorially almost the whole game was conducted in the middle of the pitch or in the visitor’s half with Cully showing considerable aptitude at building pressure and attacking positions despite the bye product of their robust style of play, nine penalty awards against, in comparision to saintly Reading’s single infringement.

The game began with a first minute try between the posts by Tomas easily converted by centre, Abbey Wall for 0-7. The first scrum of the match was in the third minute and it was a relief to Cully that the pack held their ground as prop Steph Cox was on call, Jennie Ingersent was still injured and Dolly Boyce did not arrive back from holiday until twenty five minutes from the end when she made a noticeable impact. Normally a centre, plucky Emily White took on hooker beside regular tighthead Kaima Troake whilst versatile Claire Knighting moved to loosehead but retained the lineout throwing duties.

Cully nerves were beginning to settle as the remainder of the first quarter elapsed without Reading adding to their score. The visitors tested the Cullompton side with a bombardment of their forwards and two exceptionally large centres taking an endless succession of crash balls into the smaller defenders but courage was in plentiful supply in home defensive line. An attack was mounted around the tenth minute when Knighting carried well to the opposition twenty two. Flanker Amy Alford took the ball in a lineout and Cully won their only penalty award at a scrum in front the opposition goal. The penalty was tapped and lock Claire Vicary was driven over the line between the posts but was held up giving Reading a scrum and clearance.

For Reading where the impact of the broad sword had failed to dent the Cullompton line it was the rapier thrust that was to open the gap in the scores. On twenty minutes Denton took a pass on her own ten for a powerful run to the woodwork. Five minutes later Tomas danced through the defenders for her second touch down hotly pursued by Green and two minutes after that quick hands from a scrum put Mathews down the touchline. The score in the first minute of the second half belonged to the series when Denton upset Cully spectators by running in her second from a pass which had seemed to be forward. Wall converted all four including the Mathew’s score which had been touched down near the corner.

The introduction of Boyce on forty two minutes had an immediate effect on the balance of power in a scrum and in a very robust passage of play which followed it took the Reading physio four minutes to resurrect three of her players. Reading were awarded the scrum at the restart but Cully soon took charge and had a scrum of their own on the opposition twenty two a couple minutes later. This was a platform for three minutes of continuous possession in the Reading twenty two. The ball was carried by full back Kirsty Barker, Boyce, Knighting, centre Jemma Parish and scrum half Charlie Wright before Knighting had another go and handed on to flanker Liz Lennox. Lennox was within inches of the line when the referee rescued the visitors with a penalty award.

In the fifty fourth minute Cully had a lineout inside the Reading ten. White took the ball well and confident eighteen year old flanker Molly Hustle made good ground with a chip and chase and Knightly and number eight Liz Wyle continued the move before Reading were awarded another penalty. Reading however tried another of their short throws in their penalty lineout which failed for the third time and Cully moved the ball through quick hands to winger Sarah Ashton on the opposite side of the field who dotted down in the corner for a try that Green narrowly failed to convert for 5-35.

Green did however manage to convert a try she scored herself on sixty five minutes which was very much a product of the impressive team work displayed by Cullompton in the second half. A hefty Cullompton shove pushed Reading off the ball in their own scrum and Green moved it up field. Possession passed through Barker and Knighting before returning to Green who was held back from the line by a Reading hand on her shirt tail. The ball was recycled through Barker, Ashton, winger Sarah Giejsels and Hustle before returning to Green who was not to be denied a second time.

The final score was 12-35 when the whistle came for the end on seventy minutes. The margin was twenty three points so it was of no matter on this occasion that the clock was left ticking through an estimated eight minutes of injury time although it is unusual for even the most uneventful half of rugby not to clock up at least three extra minutes.