The first game of 2018 saw the Haringey Rhinos hosting fellow North London team, Hampstead Ladies II’s, at White Hart Lane.
Rhino’s kicked off and started strong, taking the ball within yards of the try line within only a few phases of play but fell just short of making the try.
The Hampstead Team were more aggressive at the rucks which made for a lot of lost ball but Rhinos remained more disciplined than their opposition, resulting in a lot of penalties to capitalise on. The first half saw four Hampstead tries but Rhinos tightened up their Defence and conceded only one in the second half but unfortunately did not get any points on the board for themselves.
A big welcome to new Rhino, Molly McNamara, who had a great first game wearing Red and Green, having a big impact as soon as she stepped off of the Sub’s Bench, bringing the right combination of positivity and aggression onto the pitch. MVP went to Hannah Lloyd-Jones for having a phenomenal game as Centre and Biggest Hit to Rhiannon Ellis for being fearless in contact, whether she had the ball or was chasing it.
Whilst not an ideal result to start the year with and disappointing to come away with no points for the effort given, considering there were six weeks between games for the Rhinos it was a fair second half performance to build on for the rest of the season and we’ll be looking forward to doing just that.