By Lucy Hall, UBWRFC Club Captain and third year Theatre and Performance Studies student
Despite a home loss, Bristol’s rugby girls showed considerable fight against a powerful opponent.
Montagues vs Capulets. Scar vs Mufasa. Bristol vs Cardiff Met. It’s an age old rivalry. One that has left both teams bruised, beaten and thirsty for more. Three years ago, when the club was still small, our 1s beat their 2s and there were tears of joy. On this cold, blustery night we were on our home turf and we were gritted teeth ready to take on the girls in red.
Two exciting fixtures this @BUCSsport Wednesday for both our 1s away at @UBWRFC and our 2s away against @CardiffUniWRFC. Good luck both sides #UTA🏹
— Cardiff Met WRFC (@cardiffmetwrfc) November 6, 2018
At the first kick Cardiff Met 1s took the ball and quickly headed over the try line. The score was 5-0 up to the away team. Old UBWRFC may have let their heads drop but they came back fighting. Almost instantly, quick balls through the hands, resetting, barrelling through Cardiff Met’s defence, and then Brooke Clarke and her powerful quick legs ran a line so hard she crumbled their defence and soared over the line.
Then a battle commenced. UBWRFC’s defence was impenetrable. If ever there was a break, Lucy Andrews’ deadly tackles would stop them in their tracks. Jenny Herring was vicious at turning over the ball and as usual, Emily Codd, the smallest member of the team, backed herself - and rightly so - to tackle the strongest girls on the pitch.
As expected, it was a physical game. Our style is usually quick and fit, run around the contact. Not tonight; a fire was lit within our girls and everyone put in a shift.
Everyone was getting low, wrapping their arms and hanging on tight. An especially impressive moment was when Megan Husband was pirouetted over someone’s shoulders and got up fighting.
At half time the score was tied. The improvement in our club and our first team has been exponential. A year ago, we would never have been able to even contend for a try, and here we were tying at half time.
When the second half started, fingers had cooled slightly and one dodgy scrum created a ten-minute gap that saw our girls cool down in the freezing wind. Still, they fought on. The scrums were powerful, Cecil Lock the stalwart hooker at the centre of the action and our feisty flankers racing to the first break down.
Unfortunately, Cardiff Met’s physicality got the better of us, and they got over the line three times more and eventually scored a 22-5 win. After the game, Captain Nina Webb, usually only fearsome on the rugby pitch, got teary as she recounted the history against Cardiff Met. It was a loss that was not taken lightly, and when we are on their turf, UBWRFC will be ready to hit them as hard as they hit us.
Featured image by Ed Hanton
The Women's 1s face an away fixture at Hartpury 1s on Wednesday 14th. Let us know what you think about their chances!
