Bonus point win at home

West Bridgford Ladies 1st XV 29 – 14 Carlisle Cougars Ladies 1st XV
RFU Women’s National Championship – North 1

West Bridgford Ladies welcomed Carlisle Cougars Ladies to the Memorial Ground, with both teams eager to kick off to allow Carlisle the long journey home. As the poor morning’s weather made way for a largely dry game, but the pitch slippery underfoot skipper Laura Moore kicked off and got the game underway. West Bridgford, making a rare appearance in their white kit looked to spread the ball through hands and stretch the defence. After a strong start from winger Jordan Bixley, Bridgford maintained pressure and possession as full back Tanya Bird spotted the gap and danced her way to the line and scored her first try of the season. Bixley added the conversion on 5 minutes. West Bridgford were in the ascendency, Polly Danks pulling on the prop shirt for her front row debut and powering through the tight, allowing fellow prop Bethan Arthur to support hooker Laura Groves as they regularly pressured the opposition front row. The pack stuck to their game plan and managed to win a penalty, scrum half Jen Castle saw the urgency and spun the ball wide; the play going through nine sets of hands before finding winger Nia Cambell-Watson on the far touch who extended the lead to 12-0 after 20 minutes.

Carlisle pegged Bridgford back, as the penalty count rose and eventually the defensive line broke as Carlisle scored from close range. However, West Bridgford weren’t perturbed by this and they launched an attack from kick off, ruthlessly picking out a weak link in defence. Outside centre Amee Wilson scooped up the ball and cut the perfect line as she ghosted through to the line, taking the score to 17-7 on 35 minutes. Arthur was unlucky not to score after a typical barnstorming run that had the crowd in raptures; however Bridgford were having some trouble with the referee’s interpretation at the breakdown and number eight Amy Harding was unlucky to be on the receiving end of a yellow card, just before half time.

After the break, Carlisle made the most of their one player deficit and notched their second try, taking the score to 17-14 and setting up a nail biting last half, with both teams giving their all in defence. As the Carlisle captain received a painful looking neck injury, the game was switched to an adjacent pitch and the game re-started. Bridgford knew that their defence had to be impeccable and that they had to return to their patterns of play that were reaping rewards in the second half. Replacement inside centre Amanda Stafford looked threatening every time she got her hands on the ball and made a break that set up several more phases of play. Stafford didn’t see this hard work go to waste and cut a sublime line and raced away to score. Bridgford were made to work for their possession, flanker Jennie Walker’s defensive work rate, allied to fellow flanker Georgina Saunders’ constant energy won an important turnover on the Bridgford 5m line, Cambell-Watson seeing the space had the confidence to run the ball the entire length of the pitch to score the bonus point winning try.

West Bridgford had to work extremely hard to win this game, knowing that every win comes with sheer determination and teamwork. On an afternoon that proved difficult to pick a standout player, Georgina Saunders took the plaudits from her team mates for her sheer unstinting service.

West Bridgford Ladies take to the road for a relatively short trip to West Park Leeds Ladies on Sunday 14th October, kick off 2.30pm