We welcomed unbeaten
Wimbledon
to a cold, bright and
breezy Woodbridge hoping to rediscover our form, avenge
the away game defeat and entertain a good crowd. The
Wombles started aggressively driving into the our 22 only
to get penalised twice. These penalties and some good
early shoves from Hailey, Beth and Debs further encouraged
the positive attitude that was very evident in the
Amazons. The pack drove hard over halfway, denied
Wimbledon’s
backs sustained possession and pinned them back for the
first quarter. Even when we lost the line-out, Fletch away
for other duties, their clearances were safetly gathered
by EJ and Magic who ran them straight back at them. From a
lost penalty Uncle Bulgaria missed touch, Kat passed and
“who-the-hell’s-Brian-Griggs?” Lou ran from our 10m line
around the drawn defence and scored a Steph-converted try.
Happy Days.
The league leaders were clearly
shaken and, despite fluffing the kick-off, retaliated with
several phases in the our half. Our pack is strong though,
Hayley picks and drives, Morph made a good run but is penalised
for a wonky put-in and then we high tackle yet there’s still a
feeling that we can take this match. Sustained phases got us
central, our hard working forwards had the edge from ruck and
maul as our flankers, Churchy and Charlotte chased fast to stop
their encroaches. They seemed banjaxed by the passionate
running and responded with aggressive scrummaging pushing early
and giving our front row aggro. The half ended with them in our
22 frustrated by some team-wide master tackling, EJ clearance
kicks and Madge stealing which enabled us to hold off the
continued assault and lead into half time.
The second period saw us make
more mistakes particularly in the first 10 mins (I saw Lou
knock-on!) but the Wombles were incapable of exploiting them.
Even in defence our backs looked dangerous when the scrum
delivered clean ball. The wind made line-out and kicking a
lottery for both sides and so it was left to the forwards to
make the ground. We defended well, caged in our own 22 for
prolonged periods, but with EJ, Lou, Madge and Magic prowling
like cheetahs Orinoco and the gang never looked comfortable
scared witless of the attacks from deep. Both sides were aware
of the pressure on the next score.
On a number of occasions, against
the run of play and with Nic clearing and passing well, our
backs made darting forays testing their wings in both senses.
Lou ran the blind, Madge steam-rollered through tackles, Magic
preferred the curling sprint and EJ dropped her head and
eventually ran from her own 10m through confused defence to
score on 20mins. Wimbledon continued to attack, we continued to gave
penalties as it dawned on an excited crowd that, despite play
remaining in our 22 for much of the half, the giants were going
to be beaten. Amy and Sam were subbed for Michaela and Beth and
ten minutes later Lou carried to the halfway and off-loaded in
the tackle to EJ who carried to score and ruin
Wimbledon’s
unbeaten run with an unmatched 17 points.
All together now….la la
la….
When it's foggy on the
common
And you just can't see
And I womble into you
And you womble into me.
Just remember
we're so lucky
To be womblin' free.
Amazons aren’t
easee
Forward of the
Match: Sarah
Cousins
Back of the
Match:
Captain EJ Stearn
Woodbridge Amazons: 1 Hayley
Charles, 2 Beth Kinlan, 3 Deb Dumbill, 4 Ali Hale, 5 Sarah
Cousins, 6 Alice Reidy, 7 Charlotte Grainger, 8 Stephanie
Cotton, 9 Morven McAlpine, 10 Lou Rickard, 11 Michaela Kersey,
12 EJ Stearn (Capt), 13 Titila Maharaj, 14 Kat Mead, 15 Emma
Johnson. Replacements: 16 Sam Burton, 17 Amy Smith, 18 Nicola
Betman.
Wimbledon: 1 Anna Yardley (Capt),
2 Vanessa Stevens, 3 Sophia Popadopoulos, 4 Anja Sadlowski, 5
Charlotte Willis, 6 Emily Campbell-Jones, 7 Olivai Patterson, 8
Jen van der Eem, 9 Lisa Paulton, 10 Karen Williams, 11 Jo
Linklater, 12 Hannah Gutteridge, 13 Carol Evans, 14 Zoe Leeke,
15 Kate Whittaker. Replacements: 16 Mandie Jones, 17 Julie Powell, 18 Cristina
Malagrotto.
Ref: Edward Williamson