Waterloo fail to maintain high standards

BY GEOFF LIGHTFOOT

DMP kicked off to the visitors who used the ball effectively in the opening minutes to move down the pitch.

But they tried to play too aggressively at every breakdown and force the play which led to them repeatedly spilling the ball.

This set the pattern for the first half.

In the first 20 minutes the home side never gained any significant territory and the Firwood Waterloo scrum was in the ascendancy which led to any first phase possession being scrappy.

However, they could not convert this dominance of territory and possession beyond three points from the boot of Beth Stott when Loo were awarded a penalty.

The visitors continued to take advantage of the set piece and finally in the 36th minute, after sucking in the home defence, Beth Stott’s cultured cross-field kick was gathered by Georgie Perris-Redding who astutely passed inside for club captain

Ash Neale to power over in her 75th cap for the club.

The Merseysiders moved into an eight point lead.

The home side then began to slowly claw their way back into the game and a sustained period of pressure at the end of the half was repulsed by the visitors as they forced the attack back from the tryline and bundled the DMP winger out on the 22 to end the half.

From the restart, Firwood Waterloo penned DMP back and it seemed that a repeat of the first half was most likely. However, the loss of Number 8 Sarah Beckett and scrum half Mhairi Grieve due to International playing time restrictions seemed to disrupt Firwood Waterloo’s organisation and game play.

The opening 10 minutes then meandered into a stalemate position but, critically, the visitors lost the scrummage domination that they had established in the first half.

Now with a platform to build on, the home side came more and more into the match and began to monopolise possession.

Firwood Waterloo scrambled hard in defence, but spectacular covering tackles from Georgie Perris-Redding and Claire Hutchison, in her 125th Cap for the club, were not enough to stop Katherine Hobson scoring from close range. The game was now in the balance at 7-8.

The home side continued in the same vein and the visitors were now reeling trying to maintain their slender lead.

Continued pressure led to a second try for the home side, scored under the posts by Tamara

Taylor and the game was beginning to slip away from the visitors.

Rosie Blount converted for 14-8.

In the 66th minute, popular and influential forward Rebecca “Titch” Owen was substituted in her final game for the Merseyside club who will miss her calm head and inspirational presence. Chasing the game, Firwood Waterloo squandered what little possession they had by forcing passes and offloads that had a slender chance of paying off.

This played into DMP’s hands as it allowed them to slow the game and control the clock.

In the final moments of the match, the visitors gained possession on the halfway line with a five on two overlap but failed to secure the possession needed.

The home side were awarded the penalty which they used to recycle possession and kick to touch to end a frustrating and eminently winnable match for the visitors 14-8

Following the game, fly-half Beth Stott said: “We’re obviously disappointed that we were beaten.

“We played well in the first half, both in attack and defence and showed a lot of heart.

“We were slow out of the blocks in the second half and failed to react.

“A lack of converting possession cost us the game.”