Watsonians show the Wright stuff to bounce back and break women’s cup duopoly

Watsonians skipper Nicola Nightingale said it “hadn’t sunk in” after leading the Myreside ladies to their first Sarah Beaney Cup success and breaking the Hillhead Jordanhill/murrayfield Wanderers grip on the title, writes Duncan Smith.

The Edinburgh side lost 68-12 to the “Hill Jills” in last year’s showpiece but bounced back to register a shock victory at BT Murrayfield on Saturday evening.

Hills were going for their third straight win after assuming dominance in the Scottish women’s club game following the demise of 12-times winners Wanderers following a breakaway to form a new team at Heriot’s.

But watson ian shave stepped up to fill the void in the capital and, after a one-point win and one-point loss to the Glasgow side in the league, were able to engineer a famous cup win.

Former Scotland stand-off Nightingale said: “We came here last year and got a bit of a hammering. It’s amazing the amount of work the girls have put in over the last 12 months, and to get that result is just the icing on the cake really.

“The occasion got to them [last year]. It was the first time Watsonians had got to a final and in the first 40 minutes they [Hillhead] ran riot. I’m just delighted we managed to get the result this year.”

Watsonians recovered from the loss of an early try by Hannah Smith as Alice Young levelled the scores. Prop Allie Tucker then powered over to give the underdogs the lead. A Mairi Mcdonald penalty pegged it back to 14-10 at the break.

Thematch-winningmoment came just after the hour-mark as Watsonians’ international duo of Lana Skeldon and Megan Gaffney cut Hills open. The centre Gaffney was stopped just before the line but fullback Emma Evans was on hand to finish off at the posts.

Hills got a sniff with a late penalty try, when Gaffney was also yellow-carded for a high tackle, but the 14 women of Watsonians showed great composure to see out the match.

“We knew that they would come at us fast but these past 12 months we’ve found ways of winning,” added Nightingale. “We’ve gone behind before. We just kept our heads, showed composure and got there in the end.”

The skipper hailed the barnstorming performance of Kiwi tighthead Molly Wright, who was player of the match. “Molly is a great character and some player too,” said Nightingale. “That effort out there was second to none.”