A proud day for the women
Women’s rugby continues to go from strength to strength up and down the country, but really setting the standards at the moment are Bath Rugby Ladies. With lots of work being done both on and off the field, the numbers of women that the club has attracted, as well as the development shown by the players whilst at the club, is there for all to see.
On Sunday the club fielded all three of their teams on the same day for the first time ever, with 64 females representing the Blue, Black and White.
The first team travelled to midtable Reading Abbey in confident mood targeting a bonus point victory, and they didn’t disappoint. The star of the show was winger Hannah Meek, who ran in five tries in total. Scoring a few poacher’s tries, she finished off a great team move that involved fly-half Anya Small, centre Lucy Juffkins and second row Fern Read to accelerate around the full back to score in the corner.
Jason Robinson-esque, the pick of Meek’s tries was her last, beating half of the Abbey team from 60 metres out, stepping and dodging her way to the whitewash. Fullback Holly Edmonds also crossed for two brilliant scores, and prop Trish Brown barged her way over after the forwards got close to the line. Eight tries in total, with fly half Small converting five.
Players of the match were second row Emma Quarterman whose work rate around the park, and dominance in the lineout stood out; and of course five-try Meek.
Head coach John Gould said: “We explored our game strategy in more detail this week at training, building on our understanding and decision making in different scenarios. On the whole we implemented things well, but also learnt a lot from the experience of doing it in a game. We’re building nicely ahead of two huge home games against Richmond and Thurrock this month.”
Bath remain second following this 50-17 victory.
The second side visited top of the table North Bristol for what was always going to be a tough game. Bath came out of the blocks quickest with a converted try from Gwen Tibbles in the opening ten minutes and retained the ball well, stretching the defence with some enterprising play. Fly-half Katie Derrick pulled the strings and some inroads were created by the ball carrying of number 8 Jess Pardoe.
However, Bristol soon hit their stride to score a few quick tries to take the lead at half-time by 3-1 in tries. The second half was a tight affair, but despite all the effort from the Bath side they couldn’t breach the defence.
In the last 15 minutes Bristol pulled away, scoring a few more tries to take the game away from Bath 48-7. Stand-out players were Derrick and Pardoe, as well as experienced forwards Davidson, Thompson and Mahoney.
The third team were also on the road at Cheltenham North, having beaten them 22-5 at Lambridge in October and duly matched that on Sunday. The Bath squad was made up of players with varying levels of experience, with some players from the University of Bath being joined by some experience in the form of fly-half Rhian Evans and second row Gemma Gould, in her first game back since having a baby last year.
Captained expertly at scrum-half by Pam Nique, who went on to score two tries, the Bath side had a bit too much pace out wide at times. Other tries were scored by wing Megan Baron and full-back Olivia Jones, with a solitary conversion from Evans. Players of the match went to number 8 Megan Griffiths and captain Nique, with a notable mention to recent recruit Leah Mcgoldrick who played her first match for the club at centre.
On Sunday, the club hosts a double header of fixtures, with the 1st XV welcoming Richmond and the 2nd XV up against Devonport Services. The ladies would really welcome all of your support at Lambridge on Sunday afternoon.