Match report: SCRFC Ladies Development vs Medway 2s

This Sunday the Streatham-Croydon ladies development squad travelled to Kent for a much-anticipated friendly against ex-rivals from last season, Medway ladies. Both teams fielded a mix of first team and new players who were keen to get experience away from the pressure of a league game. Medway were excellent hosts before, after and during the match making sure our players were well looked after and ensuring a fantastic match for both the players and the troop of regulars that had travelled from London to support.

Streatham got off to a solid start but a lack of experience in the defensive line allowed in a couple of early Medway tries. As the game progressed Streatham’s forwards were growing in confidence with some strong pod work by second row Ceri Buck and prop Daisy Leach, and first-time number eight Catherine Kingston putting in some impressive tackles. By the end of the first half Streatham started to find their attacking rhythm with a series of phases in the Medway twenty-two. With development scrum-half Rosie Carr starting to find her voice directing the defence and getting the ball out to fly-half Dani Reynolds to distribute, Streatham really started to gel. Fly-half Dani was able to pick up a loose ball and carve through the Medway defence culminating in a try and putting the first points on the board for Streatham.

The hard work in the first half paid off in the second. The consistently strong Streatham scrum set up a solid platform for an early try from centre Amy Allen who ran a devastating switch line off the fly-half and weaved her way through the Medway defence to get Streatham their second try. Shortly after borrowed forward Gemma created a two-on-one on the wing, with winger Kimberley Bennett running hard but pushed out of touch just short of the try line. Medway put our defence under pressure again with multiple phases of crash balls and pick-and-go’s and although Streatham’s defence was able to stop Medway from putting too many more points on the board we couldn’t stop a break from their speedy fly-half who evaded Streatham’s covering tackle to get over the line. In the final minutes new Streatham forward Amy Davies was able to secure the ball from the line out in the Medway twenty-two but we were denied a final try by the impressive Medway defence. Having tied the second half, the game finished with a final score Medway 33 – SCRFC 12.

Huge well done to Briony and Amy Davies who were impressive in their first run-out for Streatham. This was the third and last development game for us before Christmas, but with an ever-growing squad and desire for game time we’ll be looking for a busy development schedule in the new year.

Next weekend (Sunday 9th December), the 1st XV will be returning to their league fixtures, commencing the return legs as they tackle the second half of the season. They will be hosting Hackney Ladies, who were one of their only two losses in the first half of the season, so are looking forward to rectifying this in welcoming them to Frant Road. A big supporting crowd will make all the difference, 2pm KO.

Forward of the match: Catherine Kingston
Back of the match: Amy Allen
Scorers: Amy Allen (1T), Dani Reynolds (1T, 1C)

Updated 08:20 - 30 Aug 2019 by Millie Ross