Barnes Ladies vs Sutton and Epsom Ladies (22nd November 2015)

Going into the game we knew it was going to be a big one, and it didn’t disappoint.

The match began with a bit of a panic, as we failed to gather the ball in from the kick off and Sutton and Epsom ladies were up on us in a flash. They set up camp in our half from the go and we had to work really hard as a unit to keep them off the try line. There were a good few scrums and Barnes contested and defended so well that for the first 12 minutes we really spoiled their party, refusing to let them squeeze through.

Realizing they weren't going to get past our wall by trying to crash through us, they changed tack and their fly half 'dinked' the ball past our defensive line, and into the goal area. Lightning quick reactions from Ian meant that she dropped over the ball and killed play before Sutton and Epsom's ladies could pounce - earning herself a bloodied nose in the process.

Play resumed with a 22-drop out and it was straight back to the forwards trying to grind each other down. There was a fair bit of sloppy play from both sides, particularly in the breakdown. For about five minutes we seemed to be trading penalties with Sutton and Epsom ladies, until eventually they found a gap and the ball made it’s way off a breakdown and out to one of their speedy backs who narrowly managed to cross the line in the left corner.

The game picked up were it had left off following the restart, with the Sutton and Epsom ladies hunkered down in our half. There was a dramatic moment where we intercepted a sloppy offload and flew out of the blocks, but their back line cut us down quickly and we were soon back to scrumming and rucking.

The phases mounted and gradually they drew back up to our line again. They were a few meters out when an exceptional combined effort by the forwards left a Sutton and Epsom attacker trapped and holding the ball out ready to pop it up – so Em sniped it from her hands and charged downfield. Unfortunately, their defense was pretty fleet footed too – or potentially offside – and she was caught around their 22m line. Scrums and rucking ensued again and following phase-after-phase of attacking they managed to dot down on the right hand side of the pitch just before half time.

We had the wind at our backs in the second half, and after a quick team talk with Andy and Leslie – and Em reminding us to look for the steals – we took our place out on the field. We managed to spend a bit more time in their half, with a couple of steals and some great mauls putting the pressure on, but not enough to get us over the line.

Ian took a blow to the head and had to be subbed off, bringing Leah in off the bench and dropping Jo into the front row at hooker, which meant uncontested scrums. Our bruised and battered bodies ( particularly Eleonore’s eye which apparently attacked the studded side of a Sutton and Epsom boot) started to tire and Sutton and Epsom ladies managed to squeeze in one last try out on the right to seal the win. For the last 10 minutes, we were disciplined and won the majority of the penalties awarded but couldn’t quite capitalise off these. Hellie was soon subbed off too, following a particularly nasty twist to her knee.

Em and Pip made good use of the touch line as a 16th player in defence during the game, driving Sutton and Epsom players off the field if they even considered a long run down the wings. Fortunately, their defense also seemed to be tiring and we managed to hold them out for the rest of the game, spending the last five minutes or so tantalisingly close to the try line. In a dramatic effort, again built up from on-going phases of tackling and rucking and mauling, Eleonore delivered another one of her powerhouse moves to barge her way through Sutton and Epsoms strong defense and over the try line to put some points on the board for us. The final whistle blew not long after that, giving us the last word in the game.

It was such a hard match but the atmosphere and mood of every one of us in our huddle at the end of the game showed that we were proud of our team performance. Our mauling was as strong as ever, with some great drives from the forward pack. Our rucking is getting better by the week but we're still not quite there yet and Sutton and Epsom ladies exposed that with a number of quality turn overs by their forwards who were quite zealous about getting at the ball and definitely well drilled in clearing out at the breakdown.

The biggest thing for us to take away from this game is that they were the toughest competitor we’ve had so far this season, but we didn’t let the score line run away, we gave the game everything we had for 70 minutes and Sutton and Epsom ladies had to work for every single point the got. They never managed an easy try under the posts, each score involved a lot of effort and narrow margins out wide. And we didn’t leave the pitch without points to our name - we never let our heads drop, and to be the team that scored the final points in the dying minutes of the game when we knew our chances of winning had already passed says a lot about our character and tenacity.

Highlights of the game:

We’ve got Harlequins Ladies at home this Sunday. We’re second in the league now (with a bonus point still to be added by the RFU) so we need a big win. We’ve won most of our league games so far and want to keep that focus with us going into Sunday’s game, bringing in all the valuable experience we gained from our game against Sutton and Epsom ladies into this match – we want to be top of the table by Sunday evening.

We’ve been asked to make sure we’re out on the pitch and warming up by 1pm, which means it’s probably best to aim to be at the club for 12.30pm.