Old Northamptonian's Ladies travelled to Peterborough RFC to fight for their place towards the top end of the league today (29.1.17). ONs turned up with a full squad of 20 and when numbers were changed to 13 aside the flankers were dropped from both teams to even things out for the game to start.
Right from the beginning ONs showed their dominance and determination with Charlotte Burrows executing a well-timed chip and chase to put ONs securely in the oppositions half within minutes. Positive play was seen from Molly Green as she held up Peterborough's play and stole the ball effectively, stunting any offence they had hoped to try. Powerful hits were seen by Sophie Dolby as she took down player after player, laying her body on the line. A swift jackal from Cailin-Jo Tyler and strong run from Cheryl Smith soon saw ONs 5 metres away from the try line. As the ball was passed to the forwards, it only took a couple of rucks until the ball was delivered to Mikayla Butler who used her footwork to step around the line of defence and over the line to score ONs' first try. A missed conversion saw the score at 5-0 to ONs.
As the game went on, the ONs had been uplifted by their first try and stepped up their game to see some excellent hand-offs by Nikki Wieczerzynski, endless rucking from Steph Radoja and aggressive force and drive from all players. Despite being held up in their own half for a while, the ONs put the ball into the reliable hands of Cailin-Jo Tyler and watched her speedy legs as she ran from the ONs' half to the try line and even made it under the posts before she could be stopped. A lovely position for Nikki Wieczerzynski to convert from, and she did. The score: 12-0 to ONs.
Not to be deterred, Peterborough came back hard and their attacking line came up fast on the ONs, but a swift kick of the ball and a solid chase from Cheryl Smith saw this offence become a defence and with repercussions. Two yellow cards came within 10 minutes for the Peterborough ladies from high tackles (under the new, more explicit laws), which put them 2 players down; ONs took full advantage of this, mounting an attack on their 10 metre line. Charlotte Burrows kicked to the wing, allowing Cheryl Smith to pick up the ball with steady hands and put the third try over the line for ONs, leaving the score at half time 17-0.

Coming back from the break, with all players back on the pitch, Peterborough were fighting to get a score on the board and stop anymore being put past them. The opposition had possession in their half, but some successful counter rucking saw ONs take possession. Sophie Slope was then able to pick up the ball from the ruck, pass successfully to Charlotte Burrows who timed her pass well to Molly Green whose strong legs carried her with ease over the line to start ONs as they meant to go on. A cross-bar conversion bounce saw the score at 22-0.
A dynamic run from Nikki Wieczerzynksi prevented one lone defender from taking her down, and in fact a team of 4 had to do the job. When Peterborough were in position Molly Green showed her depth of experience in rugby and brute force as her tackles saw her opponents hit the floor hard, and caused some drop balls which worked in ONs favour. A powerful run from Charlotte Burrows, supported by Molly Green, found ONs back in Peterborough's half again and this time the backs played to their skills and training and executed 2 loops (from Tazia Goodwin and Charlotte Burrows) to put Cheryl Smith in the corner to score yet another try for ONs. A missed conversion saw a superb score of 27-0 for the ONs.
Peterborough came back with force seeing this gap in the scores and fought hard to put some points on the board. An unfortunate and accidental high tackle from Lisa Berry put ONs down to 12 players against 13, but this did not stop some continued aggression and positive play from the forward pack with Tasha Partridge and Jenna Joseph making some crushing tackles and the backs again stepping up to get ONs out of the danger zone. Unfortunately, despite these effort Peterborough found themselves over the try line, only to be held up by a strong ONs defence. Taking a step back and going back for a scrum, the forward pack worked hard to prevent any opposition score, but some quick hands along Peterborough's back-line saw them take a quick step through the defence and score their first try of the game. The score: 27-5 to ONs.
With just under 10 minutes left to go, ONs were fighting to score again, but Peterborough were fighting hard too to close the gap on the score board, and finally broke through the wall of defence to score their second try of the game, but without conversion, leaving the score on 27-10.
Some powerful play followed to put ONs back in Peterborough's half, but a knock-on saw play stop and the final whistle blew. ONs were triumphant with the final score 27-10!
A much better performance from ONs today and this was clearly seen in both defence and attack. Forward of the match went to Jenna Joseph, someone who plays with all of her heart and puts her body on the line with force and passion. Back of the match went to Molly Green, whose confidence has grown massively during the last season, and her tackling was amazing with aggression and accuracy.
A great performance was also seen in the forwards, not only in line-outs and scrums, but in their defensive wall and attacking ferocity as well; Sophie Dolby, Lisa Berry, Gina Cottle, Laura Wychel, Ellie Bradford, Liz Thompson and Chloe Lee. The backs also had a great game today, really listening to each other and massively upping their level of ability in the game: Sophie Slope, Megan Jones and Hena Kaur.
There was a massive team effort on the pitch and everyone made the win possible. A great win for the ONs ladies!