Ladies back to winning ways

Women’s rugby

Canterbury Women, fielding debutants Becky Lawton and Laynee Bell, got their league campaign back on track with a 43-7 victory over St Francis. The game was scoreless for 20 minutes before Layla Little raced through a gap in the St Francis backline and beat the full-back to finish under the posts. The lead didn’t last long with St Francis spotting a dog leg in Canterbury’s defensive line and likewise slotting the conversion to make it 7-7. But a further try resulting from some good hands involving Sam West and Danie Juden was finished by Crystal Trott to restore the home lead. Canterbury’s strong bench was to prove pivotal in the second half with Aegean Leech grabbing a fine individual effort and Hannah Batley twice powering over only to be denied a hat-trick by the referee, who deemed she had knocked on during grounding. The penultimate try followed a one-handed offload from Little which Crystal Trott finished well. Biba Chuta and Danielle Pain then combined to find Little who sped around the outside and over the line. Little added the conversion to give her four successful kicks.