Match report: SCRFC Ladies vs Canterbury

Ladies face second consecutive league defeat to a sharp Canterbury outfit

After a difficult fixture against top of the table Medway and nursing a few injuries, Streatham-Croydon Ladies travelled down to Canterbury with a slim bench and had a tough day in the office. The team were missing their characteristic positive approach and the first 20 minutes was lacking in both defence and attack. Five tries conceded in the first 30 minutes bringing the score to 29-0, Streatham barely had the ball and defensively were structurally struggling. A series of defensive penalties put the ladies on the brink of a yellow card and on the back foot.
Fortunately a phase of strong defensive play saw Streatham turn over the ball through back row Mel Laidlaw-Anderson. A great run by winger Grace Moore ably supported by centre Phili May, running out for the first time at 13, saw her go over for Streatham’s first, converted by Dani Davies. Streatham had a few good phases of attack in this period and were growing into the game.

Unfortunately, Canterbury started the second half in much the same way they started the first, and Streatham were overpowered in rucks causing temporary scrum half Millie Ross a fair amount of difficulty. A few breaks were well defended by the Canterbury full back, but Streatham persisted. After a great break by Helena Solomon, was supported by good hard running by Grace Moore who powered through half the Canterbury team, who had been depleted by a yellow card, to score. After Canterbury returned the favour, Streatham were on the attack again, with a strong attacking scrum. Forward of the match Amy Allen did a strong pick from the back of the scrum, and opened up the space for a run in which was unfortunately knocked on in the tackle by Millie Ross. In the 80th minute Fly-half Ana O’Connor managed to squeeze another Streatham score off a series of good attacking phase play that unfortunately saw Dani Davies hit the posts so it went unconverted. Full time score 51-19.

The game saw moments of very strong rugby across the team, which they will be looking to pick up and work on as they head into their next fixture next weekend against Ashford Saturday 3rd February, 12.30KO at home. The men will play Old Wellingtonians afterwards so please do come down and support both teams.

Forward of the Match: Amy Allen
Back of the Match: Helena Solomon
Scorers: Phili May (1T), Grace Moore (1T), Ana O’Connor (1T), Dani Davies (2C)