Ladies 1st XV 27 - 18 Hucclecote Ladies

Player of the Match - Wendy Jackson

Squad: Steph Beddall, Hayley Slimm, Nadine Harding, Sue Marsh, Rebecca Jenkinson, Katie Sutton, Leah Haney-Wilcox, Wendy Jackson, Helen Simonds (capt), Vickie Merrick, Katie Yates, Abigail Wilkes, Amy Dollery, Lucy Evans, Lauren Johnson, Barbara Palmieri, Jess Faulkes, Adele Littler, Deb Harris.

If last year's fixtures between these two sides were anything to go by a fiercely, competitive match was to be expected; and this match did not dissappoint the sizeable crowd.

Hucclecote started the match well, tactically kicking to advance to the Stourbridge 22 metre line. An infringement by a Stourbridge player in a ruck gave Hucclecote a penalty which was successfully taken (0-3). The match continued with Hucclecote kicking for territory, but now the Stourbridge backs began to regain the ground lost with a couple of half breaks to take play back into Hucclcote territory. Neither side was threatening to socre and with parity in the scrums, rucks and mauls, there was a period of stalemate. A penalty to Stourbridge enabled the ladies to kick for touch just inside Hucclecote half. From the resulting lineout, excellent driving by the forwards in particular Rebecca Jenkinson and Katie Sutton pulled in the peripheral defenders. Scrum half Helen Simonds moved the ball wide to Katie Yates who stormed through the Hucclecote back line, holding off a couple of tacklers and offloading to Abigail Wilkes in support who took the pass one handed to sprint over for a try. (5-3)

The Stourbridge lineout began to click, gaining excellent possession for the forwards to punch holes in the opposition defence with Wendy Harrison making valuable advances. One particular run by hooker Hayley Slimm, found her in open territory with wing Lucy Evans in support. A well timed pass setting the winger free for Lucy to round the Hucclecote defence to score under the posts. Vickie merrick converted (12-3).

Stourbridge were clearly in the ascendancy dominating in the loose and only some poor handling, flat running lines and a couple of forward passes prevented the ladies from scoring more points. Five minutes before half time after the forwards had moved the ball through at least 8 phases of play, a burst through by Wendy Jackson and then  Katie Sutton, saw "Sutts" dive over for a try. (17-3)

After the half time interval, a revitalised Hucclecote team took the fight back to Stourbridge. Halfway into Stourbridge territory Hucclecote won a scrum against the head and the back row of their scrum burst down the blind side. A good covering tackle by Stourbridge full back Barbara Palmieri held them up short of the line. From the resulting ruck the opposition were able to move the ball wide right across the the opposite side of the pitch were they overlapped the Stourbridge defence to score. (17-8)

The match then went through a period of scrappy play where both sides made too many mistakes to allow either team to gain the upper hand, with both teams relatively comfortable in repelling the oppositions' attacks. A penalty to Hucclecote when a Stourbridge forward held onto the ball on the ground allowed Hucclecote to reduce the deficit to 6 points (17-11). Stourbridge needed to score next to reverse the momentum of the game and regain what looked for most of the match a comfortable lead. Stourbridge with typical attacking flair refused the chance to kick a comfortable penalty and chose to run it instead, direct attacking drives by the Stourbridge pack saw Hayley Slimm drive through to score and settle Stourbridge nerves. (22-11)

Hucclecote continued to battle and pressurised the Stourbridge attack to move the ball sideways across the pitch and cede territory. From a resulting breakdown Hucclecote turned over the ball and their left wing rounded the Stourbridge defence to score. (22-18)

A nervy last five minutes saw both teams battling to get a decisive score and when the Stourbridge backs finally attacked at pace, from depth; fine runs by Lucy Evans and Katie Yates put through Amy Dollery to sprint 30m through the Hucclecote defence to score. (27-18)

This was a fine team performance by the wholly commited Stourbridge team who remain unbeaten in the league.