Another impressive performance from our Dev XV

By roger felton

The difference was the Swallows' support-play

Haverhill combined with three ladies from Ipswich and one from Felixstowe to match numbers at 13 aside - playing seven in the pack and six backs. We had our more experienced players playing out of position including Marj in the second row, Michaela in the front row and Alex, Rianna and Jasmine all having a run out at fly-half.

Annabel's first try came from a fine pass from her mum which gave her the space to run around the defence and score in the corner. Her second try 10 minutes later resulted from an initial break from our own 10m line on the left and around eight well-timed offloads ending with Annabel running around the scattered defence on the right to score under the posts. Kelly added the 2 points with her first conversion for the Swallows and after a 10 year break from rugby!

Another great break at the end of the first half saw our backs again break through and on this occasion Jasmine crossed the line.

Haverhill came out strongly in the second half and after a good counter ruck they broke our defensive line and scored a converted try. Our response was immediate and for the next 10 minutes we pressured their line with Annabel getting tackled 5 meters out and Rianna, in close support, scooping up the ball to score.

We continued to dominate possession but needed to cover back to defend several good kick-and-chases from their 10 to avoid any further Haverhill points being scored.

The game ended with Annabel's hat trick score which followed the best rolling maul of the season moving over 20m around the halfway line.

Fran had another excellent game not just putting in her trade mark chop tackles but also making several piercing runs. We will miss her terribly as she moves to Devon this week. Other players who put in good performances include Ellie Puxley at scrum-half who has grown in confidence during the three recent Development fixtures. Cerys had her first full game for the club and was always in support and clocked-up a number of carries and tackles. Lainey, despite not being at all well, made her usual powerful runs adding a few offloads as she drew in their defenders. Indeed all the players, both experienced and newbies, combined well to put together a neat performance. But we will need to reduce the penalty count and run a little straighter in order to carry this success through to our next few League matches.

"Girl of the Game" was Annabel for her hat trick of tries.