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National 1 : Broughton push title challengers to the end in pulsating East v West encounter

National 1 : Broughton push title challengers to the end in pulsating East v West encounter

Mark Brown4 Oct 2021 - 20:08
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Broughton pushed 2nd placed West of Scotland all the way in Sunday’s Tennent’s Women’s National 1 encounter in the North Edinburgh sunshine.

It was all change for the hosts with just seven of the starting XV from the previous week’s outing at Howe of Fife retaining their spot and only two keeping the same jersey number in the process.

Just like Broughton, the tourists from leafy Milngavie were looking for a positive return to winning ways following defeat last week on the road at leaders Garioch.

And it was looking good for the Burnbrae outfit when they took the lead down the slope with a converted score however midway through the half, it was all square.

Having soaked up West pressure, Broughton made their way up the hill towards the old sheds and it was a bulldozing finish by Lorna Murdoch, in her return to the side following open day injury, as she bundled over two defenders on the line to put the ball on the whitewash and watch the Referee raise his arm for the score.

After dusting herself down, the stand-off slotted the extras to make it 7-7.

Broughton’s improvement over the weeks has been clear to see, with the line-outs performing well and despite the turnover of personnel, the scrummaging was a joy to watch, particularly in defence where the home side found themselves for a good part of the next quarter.

Alas, an injection of Weegie wizardry and pace saw the visitors retain and extend their lead ahead of the interval and by the time the teams went to swap ends, it was 7-24. A scoreboard gap that was perhaps unwarranted for their first half endeavours, but one that Broughton needed to score first after the oranges to offer hope of something out of the game.

That hope was strengthened almost immediately after the restart. Former Ice Hockey player Katie Trachtenberg went on a lung-bursting run down the wing, only to be denied by a last ditch tackle. The ball was then shifted out to Miriam Hogg who still had plenty of work to do however her pace and movement of feet saw her race in for a try. Murdoch stepped up to add the conversion to make it 14-24.

The gap was extended once again after the home side were penalised for holding on inside their own ‘22’ and from the tap penalty, it was another score in the corner.

A break in play saw Referee Robert McDowell race to the sideline with the players ready for a scrum on the far side. Had he lost a contact lens? Was his whistle wonky? Nope, an offending doggy jobby had been spotted and the man in the middle was on the hunt for someone with poo bags to help remove the offending article.

With the sidelines resembling a first round of Crufts, these were in no shortage as players, armed with black bags went on the hunt to help out. Whilst there was some hilarity over the bizarre incident, it does make a very serious point in that if you are going to walk your dog in a public park, have the decency to pick up after your pooch and be considerate of other users, especially the diseases this can carry.

Anyway, back to the game and it went from Top of the Plops to Top of the Pops for Lauren Park who extended those knee to chin athletic strides to race in to dot down and once again Broughton were only ten points behind with seven minutes on the clock.

Nicky Gaskell went on a trademark run and with the try-line in her sight, she was unceremoniously clattered by two West players, enough for the Ref to penalise one of them offering a high challenge. A penalty was deemed sufficient punishment and despite one last push, it wasn’t to be.

Then, with the final play of the game, West went back up the slope to make it 19-34.

Full Time: Broughton 19-34 West of Scotland

It would be terribly remiss of us to not note the funny moment in the first half when the Referee was outfoxed by a pass which landed in his basket. Decent hands from the man in the middle who didn’t knock-on and suitably enjoyed the smiles and banter that followed.

Player of the Match: Libby McCue

Nominated Player: Erin Maguire

Smashed ‘Em Bro: Erin Maguire

Further reading