Up to the challenge posed by weather
On a cold and windy Sunday, Bath Rugby Ladies made the long trip to Hove sitting second in the table. With a few injuries and unavailability, head coach John Gould had to call upon a few players from the Second Side that have been performing well. Nia Grundy started on the left while centre Amy Gueriini and back row pair Anya Lewis and Hannah Smith were on the bench.
The game began at a ferocious pace as Bath kicked off with the wind advantage and managed to pin Hove deep into their half. Hove though stood firm during the opening ten minutes and worked hard to get out of their own half. Tactical kicking from fly-half Sarah Holloway would pin them back, however.
In a moment of magic, centre Hannah Meek stepped through some would be tackles and sprinted for the line to open the scoring. Holloway converted, but from the resulting kick-off a mistake in the Bath half led to a Hove attack. With a penalty advantage, the fly-half attempted a drop goal which went in off the post.
The next few minutes were nip and tuck until a midfield move for Bath saw them suck in numerous defenders to leave some space for winger Bethan Wakefield to dot down unconverted. Minutes later, Hover kicked away to clear and fullback Holly Edmonds gathered and sprinted through before being halftackled last defender. She offloaded to Meek to dive underneath the posts and Holloway duly converted to make it 19-3 at half-time.
With the wind still swirling, Bath worked hard to get up the pitch and retained the ball well. Flanker Robyn Price and hooker Jess Sprague both carried well. From some quick ball, Meek ran a strong line and broke a couple of tackles to score her hat-trick and the try bonus point. Holloway converted once more.
Gould was able to empty the bench during the second half and each replacement made a good impact. Bath were forced to defend well in the final quarter and prevented Hove from crossing the line. With five minutes left, Meek too an intercept and sprinted away for her fourth score.
Meanwhile, at Lambridge, the Third Team welcomed Thornbury in their second-ever league game. There were some excellent performances across the board, with Ashleigh Newbold the pick of the forwards, and Olivia Jones the outstanding back after her hat-trick of tries. Winger Megan Baron also weighed in with a brace, and Ella Gibbs got over the line too. Returning fly half Rhian Evans added two conversions to make the final score 34–7 .
Bath Rugby Ladies have a top of the table clash with Thurrock ladies at Lambridge on Sunday, December 2 at 2.30pm. Entrance is free, and the ladies would love lots of support on the sidelines in what is their biggest game of the season so far.
■ AVONVALE welcomed Swindon sitting second in the league with an unbeaten record so far. The early exchanges suggested that nothing was going to change as Swindon used their big forwards to great effect to open up a 12-0 lead within 15 minutes. Vale lost prop Donald Wilkins after five minutes and was replaced by experienced Matt Elsinor which helped shore up the scrum.
The young Vale side were struggling to hang on as Swindon showed why they are near the top moving the ball well and pinning Vale back. However the Vale defence remained strong and gradually they worked their way into the game and, just before half-time, scored a try by wing Jack Burcombe which was converted by Finn O’reagan for 12-7.
After early pressure by Swindon at the start of the second half, which Vale defended well, most of the play was between the two 22-metre lines. Vale were unlucky near the end as they attacked well but could not get over the line, leaving them with another losing bonus point.
Coach Dave George said: ”We were under the cosh for half the first half but in the end we should have won, Swindon are experienced in this league and knew how to hold out for a win. The effort from the lads is exceptional and it is only a matter of time before we get our next win.”
Vale travel to Swindon College next Saturday.
■ AVON registered another bonus point win with a convincing 40-10 scoreline at Tor. In freezing conditions with a treacherous wind, expansive handling proved difficult at times but Avon persevered and were rewarded with six tries for their spirited endeavours. As head coach Kai Harwood said: “This result was achieved from an all-round perfor“you mance which demonstrated the depth and desire from our squad in tricky conditions.”
Avon showed their positive intent early on by launching an audacious attack from within their own 22 which resulted in Escher Le Duc seemingly cruising upfield through despairing tackles to touch down near the posts. Shortly after, incessant Avon pressure saw Jonny Batchelor scamper through for their second try. The conversion was the only kick he missed all afternoon in another outstanding performance which resulted in a personal haul of 15 points.
Tor took advantage of four successive Avon penalties to move play from their own 22 to deep inside the visitors’ territory before reducing the deficit with an unconverted try. Avon responded by building their attacks through a series of short handling moves with skipper Kane Book varying play by either driving forwards or employing soft hands to utilise the powerful running of Dan Cousineau or Josh Hiscott who produced a manof-the-match performance.
It was no surprise when this paid off as live-wire scrum-half Kiddie Skeikh burned the blind-side defence with another converted try. Then followed possibly the try of the game as another sweeping move from deep inside their own half saw Batchelor surge up field before switching the point of attack with Jake Coates who cut inside for the bonus point try.
Tor meanwhile showed their danger with a quickly taken tap penalty to score a try on the stroke of half-time to keep in touch on the scoreboard at 26-10.
But any hopes of a comeback were immediately squashed after the break as Zak Harwood burst through midfield to link with the support before Tom Boreham celebrated an excellent controlled display at fly-half with Avon’s fifth try.
With a comfortable lead and increasingly difficult conditions imposing handling errors on Avon’s game plan, the match started to stagnate before another purple patch inside the final five minutes. Then Sheikh struck an excellent supporting line from a Boreham off-load to score his second try of the afternoon.
With the last play of the match Louis Belsten, who travelled three and a half hours to help Avon out at prop, was denied a fairy tale ending after clever inter-passing amongst the forwards ended with an unfortunate fumble on the try line. Next week Avon host Wells at Hicks Field with all supporters welcome to enjoy live local rugby.