Cup win is sweet revenge for painful thrashing

Less than four months after being on the wrong end of a painful 67-0 thrashing by Watsonians in the Scottish Women’s Premiership Final, Hillhead Jordanhill gained some revenge on their Edinburgh rivals with a tense win in the denouement of the Sarah Beaney Cup on the international pitch at Murrayfield last night.

The eventual winners – who were bolstered by the return of their Scotland internationals Louise Mcmillan, Mairi Mcdonald and Evie Wills for this match – took an early lead thanks to an Amanda Jane penalty, but Watsonians bounced back through a Bryony Nelson try to make it 5-3 with just 10 minutes played.

There was then no more scoring until the 66th minute when Lucy Mills sent Jane in for the game’s decisive try, and the full-back kept her cool to slot the conversion which made it 10-5.

“I am so, so proud of this bunch of players, they just gave me everything in this game,” said victorious head coach Aird Jardine, after his last game in charge of the Hughenden outfit.

“We were comprehensively beaten by Watsonians in the Premiership final a few months ago, and then lost our first Cup game to Heriot’s in the pool stage, so there was a lot of soul searching after those two games.

“As a group, we came together and worked very hard on our game play, but more importantly we worked on the mental side of the game and the team spirit since then has been amazing.

“In this game Watsonians threw everything at us, but all the players put their bodies on the line, and it was a special day and a really nice way for me to sign off.”

Watsonians head coach Freddie Main said: “The breakdown was a key area and we probably didn’t adapt to things as quickly as we could have in that area.

“We won the Premiership and were knocking on the door until the last minute to win the Cup here.

“It was not to be and obviously we are gutted right now. But looking at the bigger picture women’s rugby at the club – and in Scotland – is in good health.”

Earlier in the day, Biggar ran out 36-22 winners over Biggar in the National Plate Final, while Cartha Claymores took home the National Bowl trophy thanks to a 29-22 win over Greenock.