Kilburn Cosmos Ladies vs Barnes Ladies (8th November 2015)

Where to start?! I'm not sure I've been this excited to write a match report, except for the Hammersmith and Fulham cup game, which was almost as good as the match on the 8th November. What a game ladies, what a game.

The changing room was buzzing before we stepped out onto the soft pitches for a warm up. As always, we took a sneaky glance over to the opposition on the other side of the field, hoping to spot a weakness or a chink in their armour but Kilburn gave nothing away. They looked solid and up for a good scrap - strong and quick with well drilled moves.

After a steady warm up, we had a quick team talk from Andy and "Natalie" - or as everyone else but Andy knows her, Leslie and fashionably late backs coach Nat. Then it was all hands in for the customary roar of 'Barnes' as we took to our half of the pitch to stake our claim.

As we often do, we got off to a bit of a shaky start, although we managed to make our way into Kilburn Ladies' half right from the go. We looked to have met our match in the first five minutes, with uncontested scrums forcing both teams to play the ball quite quick off the set piece. But then, after a scrum on the Kilburn 22m line we seemed to remember what Nat has drilled into us about earning the right to get the ball out to the wings by playing the forwards for a few phases first - we didn't need the wings this time as Rosie "I just popped my 'try' cherry" Speigelhalter powered over the try line for her first ever try.

Kilburn were not to be outdone, and after some solid play from the restart, they managed to catch us slightly on the back foot and pushed over the line following a sprint by their resident bullet from the midfield. We settled back down after watching their conversion and managed to string a few decent phases of play together, but not enough to get us over the line despite a few really big plays out on the left wing. We seemed to be panicking despite calls to calm nerves. Some fumbling hands gifted the ball back to Kilburn Ladies and they made good use of the opportunity, pushing around the defence again with another fairly long dash down the field for a second try.

Little did Kilburn Ladies know, that was to be the last time that they'd pick up any points for the rest of the game. Our frustration at being broken twice in such quick succession seemed to build up a sense of defiance in the team and pretty soon we had Kilburn ladies on their heels.

From the restart our forwards got stuck in. Our rucking improved and we won possession, giving Jo the chance to feed the ball quickly off the break down out to Jen who played a sweet little switch back into Fran's hands. Fran finished the passage of play off with a powerful smash through Kilburn's defense at neck breaking speed as she darted over the try line.

From that point onwards, the floodgates opened.

We were level again thanks to a steady conversion and undoubtedly back in the game. The tempo changed with Barnes seeming to be a bit more disciplined, forcing the errors from Kilburn. Next across the whitewash was our little "try machine" Em - circling the defense and flying away with the Kilburn ladies close on her heels as she sprinted over the try line.

You could almost feel the nerves settling for Barnes as our Captain put in another one of her massive choke tackles and the rest of the forwards piled in to win the ball back, setting up the next little passage of play for Lorraine to pop the ball up to Em who motored down the field and over the line again. Em managed to get over the line one last time in the first half before the whistle blew and we trotted in for a chat with Andy, Leslie and Nat. Andy was quite clear that he wanted the forwards to get a try in the second half...

Vice Captain Em kicked off the scoring in the second half not long after the whistle blew, dotting down twice - one of the tries coming from a great run down the left channel, tight to the touch line. Sensational!

Eleonore was quick to oblige Andy's half time request and following a great passage of play from the forwards which saw crash ball after crash ball being played off the breakdown, Eleonore came up close to the line but was shut down, only to recycle herself around the back of the breakdown, snatch the ball up and pump her legs to drive through three defenders and over the line...quality forward play.

Next up was Em, with some great footwork to again dance around defenders and dot down under the posts. Emily had some pretty good jaunts up the left wing with Em in support, coming close to making the try line in one of her breaks before having to sub off through injury.

A few more players subbed on to the pitch to give us older or injured members of the team a rest. Ruth who'd put in a good few powerful carries and tackles took a bit of a knock to the head and was seeing stars, so Zeb and Roishi got a chance to get stuck in and their fresh legs upped the tempo of the game again. Kilburn's ladies seemed to be struggling to maintain the pace as Amelia got a couple of near breaks down the left wing after she subbed on.

The forwards seemed to be having a bit of a field day, clearing the rucks and crashing into the defense. Bethan had a superb run, breaking the line and dashing towards the posts only to be cut down about five or six meters out from the try line. She managed to hold her own against the defenders just long enough to execute a brilliant little pop up to Jen who was up on her shoulder in support, allowing Jen to cut through the space Bethan had created in the defensive line and power over the white wash for a try - team play at its best.

Em, who clearly wasn't happy to settle for five tries in one game, made one last push to close out her points tally for the match with a sixth try off another immense run down the right side of the pitch. The Kilburn Ladies were still keeping their heads up but were clearly tired, a few injuries making the job a little harder for them.

The final play of the game was a fantastic try from Eleanor, claiming her second try of the day as she smashed into a wall of defenders, breaking through them and running for the line to place the ball under the posts, setting up one last easy conversion for Jen-Ten.

The whistle went and we trotted back to the clubhouse full of smiles - another job done!

Highlights of the game:

Looking ahead:

We've got a big Junior Cup game this weekend, rumoured to be probably the toughest game we've played as a team which sounds to me like a damn good reason to go out and show them what we're made of. Sutton and Epsom ladies haven't been beaten (yet) this season, so it will be a pretty big scalp for us to take by putting in a good, solid performance and bringing all the great work we've done in training and in our previous contests into the game on Sunday.

It's a home game and kick off is 2pm sharp, so let's be at the club for 12:30pm so that we have a good warm up. We've got some serious momentum going for us, we've been undefeated in our last three games now. We need to feed off this success and keep up that winning mentality to make it four-for-four.