Victories for male and female Woodbridge teams

WOODBRIDGE started well, applying pressure from the off, having won the away fixture earlier in the season.

Broadlands’ high penalty count, mainly for hands in the ruck, allowed Bruce to take six penalty points for an early lead.

Rose broke to put his winger over for Woodbridge and, after a period defending from deep, Harris drove well before Barton scored from his own chip and chase.

The men from Great Yarmouth returned invigorated and despite more penalties put their hosts on the back foot.

However a penalty kick was recovered well and Smith carried the ball back to the visitors’ 22, before passing to Cooke, who dragged two defenders with him to score.

Undeterred, Broadlands countered and Ledgerwood broke away to score before Collings to score.

The resurgence ended there, however, as the game ended with Cooke feeding Smith, who ran in to score under the post for the bonus point.

National Challenge SE1 League Wimbledon 9 Woodbridge Amazons 27

IN slippery and damp conditions the penalties and handling mistakes came frequently from both sides.

It seemed only a matter of time before Woodbridge would get the breakthrough, and a penalty for not letting Johnson release on Wimbledon’s five-metre line allowed Charles to feed Stoppard Baker, who scored on half-time.

Gutteridge’s kicking gave Wimbledon three points from a penalty after the break. They looked sharper, putting the squeeze on the visitors’ pack, which reacted with a 20-metre maul over half-way to feed Rickard, who set up Stearn to score on the blind-side.

Gutteridge took another three points for another tackling error, but the Amazons forwards regained the upper hand to set up Stearn, who gave Baker another score. Baker then broke from the restart ruck, claiming her hat-trick try two minutes later, which was followed by a long conversion from Cotton.

Wimbledon’s Gutteridge also got a hat-trick of penalties, but it was the unstoppable Baker who finished the game with her fourth try.