Hackney Gladies 2nd XV 12 - 17 Barnes Women's nd XV

What a positive weekend we had for the club last week, with not a loss in sight for the senior squads. The women closed the club’s score tally with credit on Sunday in a gritty match in north London against our friends Hackney Gladies. Our men’s first team fought for a tough draw at home vs Canterbury on Saturday, while our men’s 2nd team battled out a solid win away against Rams Titans. All-in-all, a good weekend.

Barnes women’s 2nd XV now have three matches under their belt for the season, and on Sunday it was also the third consecutive game where we were lucky enough to have some brand new players step onto the pitch for the club - this time around there were 5 newbies. A massive well done to Kate, Lana and Anson who played their first competitive games of rugby ever, and a huge shout out to Sophie and Eleanor who had their first start in the green and gold hoops. It was also the third win from three games for the mighty 2nd XV.

Hackney Gladies were kind enough to arrange lovely blue skies for our game and it was clear from the off that it was going to be a hard tussle between two very evenly matched teams. Jovi took a clean catch off the Hackney kick off to get us going and we fired straight out of our half with intent. Some nerves at the start of the game lead to a few knock-ons in contact which lead to the first of many in a huge scrum battle. Lana took to front row life like a pro, while Sophie R and Rosie were absolute work horses at Lock, holding solid in the engine room.

With pressure building on our try line and Hackney edging ever closer, a superb clearing kick from Ruth got us out of our 22m and the ball sat up perfectly off the bounce for Rochelle to swoop in, fend off two players and then sprint to the line for her first try of the day. It was a masterpiece of backs play to settle the nerves, and returning legend Sab added the extras.

Hackney weren’t going to let us get comfortable though and they upped their attack, but our incredible defensive pressure kept forcing them to knock the ball on within reaching distance of our try line. After a period of sustained pressure, we conceded a penalty few meters out from our line and Hackney used the quick tap to push over the line for an unconverted try.

A big chase on the restart put us in their half for a long while but with being so evenly matched, there was a lot of to-and-fro before Rochelle again made good ground, earning us territory. Some well controlled play from Zoe at scrum half in a really frantic attack at the line saw Ruth squirming and twisting through defenders to cross the whitewash on the stroke of half, bringing the scoreline up to 7-12.

With the wind and the slope of the pitch in our favour, we started the second half with the Kate taking to the field in place of Jovi who moved took over hooking duties from Morven who slotted in at tight head. We were strong at the start of the second half despite Hackney utilising their powerful bench and another ball out wide gave Rochelle the space to punch up the right wing again for her second try.

Hackney doubled down from the restart and certainly had the lion share of possession. Cheddars was all over the pitch, hitting the big forwards and challenging at the rucks like a terrier. Not wanting to let Cheds have all the fun though, Angie was vicious in defence as she put one of the biggest players on the pitch flat on her back to win us the ball back and relieve some of the pressure on our 22m – perhaps a stint at flank is on the horizon for the pocket rocket!

Despite our defence holding strong for the most part, Hackney managed to claw back a try near the posts which was converted. They were on the hunt to level up and spent a lot of time in our half pushing at our 22m only to knock on due to our huge defensive effort, or have the ball stolen right before they could score. Anson made her debut on the wing with about 15 minutes to go and was incredibly determined in keeping the out-wide runners at bay.

With tiredness really settling in and injuries starting to mount on both sides, we ground down the clock until a penalty was awarded to Hackney just outside our 22m and in front of our posts. The ref had unfortunately miscalculated the score and told Hackney that they would draw if they were able to make the penalty kick, so they set up the tee and took aim. With the wind against them, the kick was pushed wide and was gathered in by Zoe who booted the ball into touch to close out the game.

There were some incredible performances throughout the game, particularly the newest players who got stuck in and earned their place on the pitch. Our 9/10 axis of Zoe and Lucy was formidable, and the backs were really up for it, putting in big, damaging runs whenever the ball was put in their hands. The forwards dealt fantastically with an opposition pack that was without a doubt much bigger than them, and challenged well at every lineout. Our structures weren’t perfect, but they were definitely taking shape which is all we could ask for.

Our stand out players of the day were Sasha for FoM – really settling into the 8 position with some big carries and great offloads, BoM had to go to the try machine Rochelle and player of the day went to Rosie who was an absolute powerhouse in the 2nd row and with the ball in hand.

A huge thanks to the pitch side crew too, with Andy providing superb coaching support, our cheerleader Tati filming clips and keeping the scores going through to the various WhatsApp groups, Sophie W for running the water on and offering morale support, and physio Jemima for taping us together and patching everyone up on the pitch so we could grind out the win.

We have another week off now, which will allow for the aching bodies to recover before our double header at Barnes RFC on the 7th November where our 1st XV will face London Welsh and our 2nd XV will be taking on newcomers Belsize Park for the first time in the NC3 league. As it’s a home fixture for both teams, it would be great to have plenty of support on the sidelines so please come down to cheer the women on.