Woollaston’s hattrick, her second of the season, formed the backbone of seven try’s scored, with Hannah Booth, Maisie Austin, Sherrie Christian and Catelyn Etherington, all crossing the line to dot down, Hannah Booth converting three of the scores to complete the 41 – 10 home victory.
Burton fought hard, having a talented squad of their own and despite the final score, remained in the game throughout. They were organised and clearly love representing their club as they put body and soul on the line, especially in defence.
Boston scored directly from the first kick of the game, returning Burton’s Kick off, the ball travelled through the hands to eventually find Woollaston wide out who then accelerated down the line, cutting inside at the last second to score. Booth duly converted the effort. But Burton were not to be outdone, as Boston fumbled the re-start, Burton pounced on a loose ball, re-cycling quickly and powering forward through the phases, to open their own account after only 4 minutes of play.
The game then settled as both teams went at each other, Boston slipping into a steady rhythm of play seemingly content to establish their game plan. Slowly the Boston forward carrying seemed to penetrate deeper and deeper into the Burton territory, with powerful phases of play. Once the defenders seemed to be sucked into the close in defens0ive duties, the ball was shipped down the back line to devastating effect. The forward carriers, Max Heeley, Tash Champion, Nic Coaker and Arlene Moxon (sponsored by JPMT Consulting Ltd) all delivered powerful performances, Catelyn Etherington , Lycia, later Syd, Elston and Mollie Smith (sponsored by NJS Safety) seemed to cover every blade of grass from the back row. Half back pairing of Captain Charlotte Daubney (sponsored by PJM Decorations), and Sherrie Christian directed operations well, until an unfortunate injury to Christian, late in the first half curtailed her involvement prematurely. The back line re-ordered itself, with Booth moving into 10, Austin moving to outside and Woollaston moving in a step to Inside Centre, Jody Stobart entering the fray on the wing. This shaped the first half and as Boston turned the screw three further scores resulted from this inexorable march of play, the first period ending 24 – 5.
After the half, the Boston bench began coming into play, with Sophie Lorenz , in her last appearance for Boston before she dual registers with Old Albanians and Saracens Women, replacing Lucy Buckberry and Syd Elston relieving her sister Lycia at Blind side Flank, Lycia herself replacing Arlene Moxon at second row. Emily Cooper Doig and Emma Duly replaced, Nic Coaker and Catelyn Etherington, and Nat Oakes replacing Max Heeley in the front row. Freya O’Shea coming on for an industrious Paige Heeley wide out.
Boston then produced some of the finest rugby shown this season, with some powerhouse running and some quite breath-taking offloading in contact, the pick of the bunch when Lycia Elston, who had excelled all afternoon at 6, made a huge foray into the Burton half before being stopped 15 out with a crunching tackle, managing to offload under her arm to an unsighted Sarah Simpson in close support. Simpson then shipping the ball wide through Wollaston to an onrushing Hannah Booth who finished the move in style. Inside Centre Booth, deputising at 10, who had been superb all afternoon; her shuddering defensive tackling blunting each of Burton’s attacks, thoroughly deserved this individual score, having aided in the creation of five of the remaining six Boston trys.
The game continued with pace and passion, Burton seemingly lifting their performance as the players adjusting to new positions settled; scrum half Grace Stocks, in particular, producing an inspired performance from the base of the scrum. The Burton squad began to slowly turn the screw back on the Boston pack, matching ferocity, and physicality in the final 15 minutes of the second period. Their second try perfectly illustrating the Burton girls desire not to be outdone, turning over a Boston ball on the 22, and quickly executing the turnover wide to power over for the final score of the match, ending 41 – 10 in favour of the home side.
Boston’s forward of the match was awarded to Lucy Buckberry(sponsored by JAC Air Conditioning Ltd), whose leadership of the pack in the first period was exemplary, Back of the Match, could have gone to several players, most notably hattrick scoring Tianna Woollaston or creative stalwart Hannah Booth, however the accolade was unanimously awarded to Maisie Austin, whose all-round performance today in both attack and defence was inspired. Player of the Match for Boston went to fullback Sarah Simpson who seems to have mastered her craft in this position, popping up all day in the back line in attack, but always perfectly positioned to take the high ball or taking down an attacker in last ditch tackles, the true measure of a competent fullback.
The Boston coaching team commented after the game, ’Burton came to play us today for the first time, we really had very little information on how they play. However, the girls reacted well to everything that was thrown at them. The forwards established the necessary ‘Go Forward’ all afternoon to allow the back line to deploy their devastating finishers’.
‘The performances keep developing week on week, a reflection on how dedicated this group are to training and delivering the intensity in training to shape performances like this. I have to say the Ladies of Burton, conducted themselves superbly all afternoon, despite the score they battled feverishly, clearly demonstrating the pride they have in their club. Scores sometimes don’t always reflect the true nature of a game, that certainly was the case today. We really enjoyed playing and socialising with a great bunch and are already looking forward to going back to Burton later in the season.’
The coaches also added, ‘We would also like to congratulate Sophie Lorenz on her forthcoming move back to the Women’s Elite level of competition, having being loaned last season to Premier 15s Champions Saracens Women, she will now continue her journey by formally dual registering with Saracens Women and Old Albanians Saints (Women’s Championship 1(South)), training and playing with both clubs in order to develop her game to the next level. She will be missed but will be staying with Boston Women in a coaching capacity. We look forward to seeing her develop at the top level of Women’s sport, achieving her lifelong ambition of becoming a professional rugby player. We are sure there will be a couple more making the move in due course, Sophie won’t be the only one. Boston RFC is committed to giving every female (Seniors and Juniors) the opportunity to fulfil their potential, both on and off the field.’
Sophie herself thanked all her coaches throughout her time at Boston, saying ‘I have loved every minute, training and playing at Boston. Beginning playing and being coached by my brother Michael, progressing through all the Junior ranks, I want to thank every one of the coaches, including those at NLD, that have invested time in my development as a player.
I also need to thank, particularly, every single one of the Senior Women (including the coaches Shaun, Ant and Tom) here at Boston, who have welcomed me into this fabulous, crazy family, who helped and supported me at seventeen to make a successful transition to Senior rugby a year earlier than planned, they are all truly amazing and I will always remain ‘blue and white’ at heart.