Banbury Belles 27 – 20 Greyhound Ladies 9/12/18

By Jo Woolley Photo credits: Cheryl Williams

Greyhound ladies travelled to Banbury RFC on Sunday 9th December for their final fixture before Christmas. For the first time, in many many years, Greyhound Ladies have managed to play every scheduled league game with no re-arranged games meaning that this was the second time this season that they faced Banbury Belles. In the previous match, Greyhound came away with a win at home (19 v 15) after a well fought game so we always knew this game would be a close one.

Banbury kicked off in the first half, with much of the play happening between the 10 metre lines for the first 20 minutes. Great defensive play from Greyhound followed up with great jackling saw many turned over balls, and a quick ball out to the back line saw Carly Whent (13) score for the first time by the flag after a 20m run, unfortunately unconverted. Banbury then came back fighting scoring under the posts from a great attacking strategy which was unconverted. Greyhound got their form back again and were dominating scrums and line outs, thanks to the front 3 (Claire Higginson, Jo Woolley, Sintija Ziraka) and Pam Moody’s incredible jumps, to get the ball back into the lightening fast hands of Carly Whent to score once again, ending the first half 5-10.

Greyhound Ladies made some significant changes for the second half after Laura Jenkins (10) and Sintija Ziraka (3) had to go off injured, so took some time to adjust to a changed front row and back line. Banbury took full advantage of our changes and hit the gaps out wide for 2 quick tries (both converted). Greyhound then got their heads back in the game, and started working as a strong unit again in the rucks, with many slow balls drawing in Banbury’s defensive line, for a wide pass to winger Charlotte Mayo-Evans who stormed down the pitch. Unfortunately Charlotte was tackled 5 metres from the try line but Jo Woolley, Carly Wnet and Michelle Ruddock followed close behind, working together to get 5 more points on the score board (with no kicker on the pitch, you might be able to guess how the conversion kicks went for Jo Woolley…). This game was full of scrums and penalties so it didn’t come as a shock when a penalty was conceded 10 metres from our try line, which with a fantastic strike from Banbury saw them close the gap at 17-15. Banbury kept this momentum and managed to score again by the flag after a well fought run from the winger, after several unsuccessful tackles from Greyhound. However, Carly Whent struck again with a sprint from the half way line, after some great game play from Beth Jones (12), to finish the game with a Greyhound try and an unfortunate re-bound off the posts (how I got that close i’ll never know) ended the game 27-20.

The overall feel of the game was very similar to earlier on in the season with both teams scoring the same amount of tries but this time Banbury had the upper hand on the kicks through the posts. Greyhound Ladies are back in action on Sunday 6th January to Cheltenham Civil Service at Greyhound so please come down and cheer us on!

Stand out moments:

Jo Woolley winning the vast majority of the scrums at hooker

Sarah Bevan showing more flexibility and running after her second game back after a broken leg

Beth Jones incredible commitment throughout the game as shown by the state of her legs after the match

Charlotte Mayo-Evans making an incredible run as winger

Michelle Ruddock and Abbie Roberts making the runs every time after Carly Whent

Forward of the match: Jo Woolley

Back of the match: Beth Jones

Opposition’s player of the match: Carly Whent

Accumulated total points: