Smith and Evans help Hills reach their peak

MURRAYFIELDWANDS 23 HILLHEADJORDANHILL 26

Player of the match Hannah Smith was delighted that her centre partnership with Abi Evans clicked on the big stage tohelphillhead/jordanhilllift the Sarah Beaney Cup.

Smith and Evans, who both have Scotland caps, scored two tries apiece to lead their side to a 26-23 victory over old rivals Murrayfield Wanderers.

“I really enjoy playing at centre inside of Abi because she has great feet and good awareness for a gap. Usually I try and set her up for tries, but it was also nice for me to get a couple of tries myself,” said Smith, whose brother Matt plays for Glasgow Warriors.

“We lost out to Wandies in the decider for the BT Women’s Premier League back in January and that has spurred us on because we knew we had it in us to defeat them.

“The girls up front for us put in a load of work and thankfully in the backs we managed to finish off the chances.”

Wandies coach Rhona Shepherd said: “Fair play to Hillhead they played well, but I felt we were a bit sluggish at times and did not get into our way of playing and that cost us in the end. The girls are hurting.”

The Edinburgh side were ahead early on before a threetryburstbyhillsputthem19-10 up. That lead was reduced to 19-13 at the break and when Eilidh Sinclair dotted down in the corner and Helen Nelson converted, Wandies were 20-19 up with 20 minutes to play.

That advantage was extended to 23-19 with seven minutes to play, but in the 75th minute Smith showed superb composure to go over for the winning try which Ally Cook converted.

For the victors as well as Smith and Evans, skipper Louise Mcmillan had a cracking game at the breakdown area.

In the earlier finals, the BT Women’s Plate went to Stewartry as they defeated Stirling County 29-17, while Garioch lifted the Bowl by seeing off Kirkcaldy 29-20.