Women’s National Championships East 1 Woodbridge Amazons 61 Chelmsford 0 On a glorious sunny Suffolk afternoon, the Amazons put on an amazing display to reignite their league campaign, writes Ian Girling.
The visiting Chelmsford ladies had no riposte to the Woodbridge determination, and an unanswered nine try victory underlined the hosts’ dominance.
Pretty much from the kick-off, centre Stacy Robinson made inroads before offloading to Number 8 Carmel Roisin. The powerful runner was hauled down a metre out but Kirsty Brierley was up in support to accept the popped pass and touch down. Robyn Gordon kicked the first of her eight conversion attempts to make it 7-0.
Then, from a scrum on halfway the ball was worked through the backs line out to winger Kat Mead. She turned on the speed and simply flew past her defender to register try number two and a 14-0 lead.
The forwards got in on the act then, as they patiently recycled possession, forcing their way up-field piece by piece. Alex Saunders charged at the line, then offloaded to her skipper Claire Brickley, who capped a great effort for try number three. Rolling substitutions maintained the Woodbridge pressure and two further tries were scored before the break, through Saunders and veteran Maggie Kelly, to make it 35-0 at the half.
In the second half, a break from Paula Ireland set up Brickley for her second of the afternoon.
A nice break from Julie Tyler relieved Chelmsford pressure, then Gordon delivered a killer blow by sprinting some 70 metres for a superb solo score.
As both sets of forwards tired, gaps started to appear and Gordon scored her brace to advance the lead to 54. Still keeping things simple, there was still time for a last team effort.
Huge efforts from the likes of Kat Sidders and Tor Felstein, plus the tireless reliability of scrum half Morvern McAlpine, led to a try from Roisin that, again, saw numerous pairs of hands involved, capping possibly the most complete performance of the season thus far.
Gordon duly kicked her eighth conversion, making her 100% on the day, setting an Amazons record.
This magnificent win sets the Woodbridge side up perfectly for their chance at revenge at Bury St Edmunds next time out.
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