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Southampton 12 - 41 Ladies

Southampton 12 - 41 Ladies

Natalie Davidson19 Jan 2015 - 17:43
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One more ticked off

Our unbeaten Ladies side went top of the NC South East South Two table, but the score-line does not paint a complete picture.

As in previous matches Guernsey had to weather an early storm, with Southampton driving at the heart of the Guernsey defence and recycling the ball well time and again, but the Guernsey line held fast for 10 minutes until they were able to establish some possession of their own.

When Guernsey finally did get the ball in their hands it was clear that their handling and running was going to cause concern for the hosts.

The breakthrough came for Guernsey after some very well executed hard yards around the fringe of the rucks by the well drilled forwards, sucking in a lot of the midfield around the half way line, No.9 Justeen Baker decided it was time to unleash the backs and with pace and purpose the ball went right down the line until winger Anneka Saunders finished off a superb team try.

Scrum half, Baker was marshalling the forwards well and provided a great service for Jemma Crouse at 10 who time and again drove to the gain line before setting the quick back line free.

The forwards were providing a great platform for the backs both in the set piece and at the breakdown, and eventually the powerful running in the loose with the likes of No.8 Vicki Rang and second row Tanya Scholtz dragging in defenders, gaps opened up once again, and with a deftness of touch the ball again went down the line this time finished off beautifully by Chelsie Blondel.

Despite being 0-12 down Southampton were still working hard to disrupt Guernsey and indeed were driving towards the Guernsey 22 when the ball was stolen by Scholtz at the breakdown and the ball was popped off to Rang who broke through several tackles and charged downfield as far as the opposition 10m line when she had the awareness to offload in the tackle to the marauding Fiona Power who had made an amazing supporting run.

Power continued her run all the way under the posts, quite possibly the try of the half.

The conversion was made by Crouse and it was 19-0.

Guernsey's rapid backs continued to haunt Southampton every time they kicked possession away, and on the next occasion, after a nice offload to the charging fullback Carly Parrott, with her signature acceleration she drifted around the right winger to run in a great try just under the posts.

Guernsey were not having things all their own way though and Southampton worked their way down field and just before half time worked a well earned try on the blind side, an area they had been trying to exploit all game.

So at half time it was 26- 5.

The second half became a much more scrappy affair with Southampton spoiling and disrupting and generally slowing play down as much as they could.

However, as soon as the ball was worked wide by Guernsey the pace just could not be handled by the home team, with the ever impressive Parrott running in a hat-trick of tries, one of which was a classic, almost full length of the pitch solo effort.

Southampton were able to muster another try before the end of the match after Guernsey were unable to clear their lines successfully despite winning their own lineout on their 5 metre line.

But the end result was another impressive score-line.

The coach was happy enough.

‘The first half showed several glimpses of just how very good we really can be when we go through our phases and harness our physicality and pace along with composure,’ said Chris Griffiths.

‘We were very dominant at the breakdown today and provided quick ball for a set of backs who are now flying.

‘The powerful and controlled platform the forwards set today allowed us to use our strike moves to massive effect and that aligned with another generally impressive defensive performance all round meant we were always in a good position to win the game.

‘There are as always areas to work on and we will do just that.

‘We now have one eye on the next game which is a friendly at home to Seaford Ladies on January 31st, and the other eye firmly fixed on what will almost certainly be the title decider against Ellingham and Ringwood on March 1st."

Squad:
1. Michaela Rabey
2. Eleanor Woodward
3. Heidi Mahy
4. Kristine Vavere (Captain)
5. Tanya Scholtz
6. Ellie Whittles
7. Fiona Power
8. Vicki Rang
9. Justeen Baker
10. Jemma Crouse
11. Anneka Saunders
12. Hannah McLennan
13. Chelsie Blondel
14. Michelle Schofield
15. Carly Parrot
16. Katie Conroy
17. Laura Heales
18. Andrea Harris

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