The final match of the LUSL league was upon us and we knew we needed to win to place where we wanted, and we knew we wanted a good score to finish the league on a high. Thankfully, despite lacking on the player front, we put the effort in and can say we were successful!

The vets proved a tough opposition, with a lot of big and strong players. Their fullback caused us the most problems, especially when she was targeting the smallest players on our team to try and break through our defence. Thankfully our practice paid off and it was only lapses in concentration that led to our tries that we conceded. Once again, some perfectly executed backs moves led to some perfectly executed tries and I'm sure the backs will be getting cockier (as their boots get brighter...). This alongside a large amount of phase play, especially around their try line, led to the rest of our scoreline. We never gave up, at one point the ball was held up twice before we eventually broke through. Credit is due to our in play kicking and handling of their kicks, not often a large feature of the women's game at this level. With a warning about high tackles given to RVC fairly early on it was time for us to put in some big hits and technical tackles. Some of our smallest players such as Helena, Alice and Emily, were schooling the vets in precision dump tackles and taking out their larger crash players time after time. The forwards were somewhat superior in the mauls as they managed to hold up and turn over the ball every time RVC caught it off a restart! If we didn't lose our concentration for those few brief moments then we would have managed a clean sheet I'm sure. And, as I'm president and writing this plus I got given half of the 'dick of the day' award (which I shouldn't have) I will say this: my speed was unrivalled. 

Well played ladies. A great win to finish the LUSL league. Time to watch the rest of the results roll in and prepare for Macadam!


Tries - Lilly (4 + 2 conversions), Anna (1), Sara (1), Harriet (2)
Forward of the match - Lynn
Back of the match - Helena
Dick of the day - (Joint) Lilly for 'dropping the ball' and therefore losing the try (it was so a try) & Bethan for elbowing Harriet in the face when setting up for a scrum

Another day, another game for KCLWRFC. This was the quarter final of the BUCS trophy and a chance to show Sussex (who beat us at the beginning of the season) how much we've improved. The wind was crazy and we had scraped a squad of 15 together but nothing was going to stop us.

Finally, a nice day for rugby. Some might say it was a perfect day for rugby as the weather was finally on our side and (minus the unfortunate trench or two) the ground at Goldsmiths was good for it too. It's difficult for me to write this match report without it turning into a list of who scored what but all I can really say is that our opposition were lovely girls and we are so grateful at being able to play  pretty much a full game. It was 11v11 (eventually 10v10 I think as they picked up an injury) and 35 minute halves but we definitely made the most of it, using our time to incorporate new moves, forwards into structured plays and footwork. We showed our team spirit, as did Goldsmiths and came away with a more than satisfactory score.

After all the games that have been cancelled due to bad pitches and the weather, this game proved once again that that we can't control the rain. The pitch became somewhat dodgy about 5 minutes into the match and scrums had to be replaced to find grass rather than mud. King's fought well with the wind and rain in their faces. For once some of the backs longed for a place in the scrum and its body heat rather than the far apart isolated spacing. That being said, we did well to pull of some backs moves and find pace against the ground. Thankfully any knock ons as a result of cold hands weren't an issue as the forwards dominated and won every single scrum. Tries came from Harriet and Trudi, both of which had a go at sliding over the line. It was a hard battle, more against the conditions than the opposition and on a better day our scoreline would have rocketed. Just after half time, with the weather deteriorating and a Kingston player sustaining a heavy injury it was decided to call it quits for everyone's health and safety. Kingston were a fair team and a great group of girls and despite everything we really enjoyed playing them. I'm sorry there's not too much detail in here but the cold froze my brain!

Tries - Harriet (2), Trudi (1), Lilly (1 conversion)
Forward of the match - Katie 
Back of the match - Trudi
Dick of the day - Harriet (C) for possibly breaking one of their players...

With all the weather and pitch problems we've been having recently it's fair to say KCLWRFC were gagging for a game and an opportunity to get back out on the pitch. With that in mind, it's also fair to say that they embraced it completely and showed why they are a team to be feared. 

St George's rocked up with 13 players which was a shame as we had been prepared so much for 15s, but they were a friendly bunch so I guess we didn't mind. It's not like they asked for uncontested scrums after all (which would have really been dull). St George's were strong in the contact but we showed they still had a lot to learn when it came to utilising any advantages. KCLWRFC were able to front up and the forwards did some excellent work in the scrums, winning several of them back. The forwards consistently showed their physicality and with a break from El leaving Lilly to sprint through, it was Harriet who gave the support for a quick offload to get our first try. Conversion made, this was the start of things to come. Now I've spoken a lot about the forwards but there is no way I could forget the backs. Organised, strong and smart in their plays we were breaking through St George's line all day long. Lilly managed to sneak the next try into the corner and incredibly got the conversion from no more than 3m from the touchline. To add insult to injury St George's conceeded a penalty which was successfully kicked through the posts too. The same thing was about to happen again however the next penalty kick from Lilly dropped short only for St George's to conceed a penalty literally 30 seconds later and even closer to the try line. With some quick thinking from Anna a tap and go led to her adding to the score sheet. Unfortunately this was the only conversion of the day not to go over but the scoreline was totting up nicely. Near the end of the first half St George's had a break and came sickeningly close to scoring a try but Anna saved the day with a cross pitch streak to hold the ball up. It seemed this was in vain though as they managed to sneak through after the scrum to score their try after all. The end of the first half and we were up 22-5 with a promise of pints from the coaches if we hit 40 points. Challenge accepted.

The second half meant everyone was really relaxing into their game and the backs were trying out all the fancy moves in their repertoire. It seemed like St George's defence wasn't there most of the time, allowing Lilly to utilise her speed on the wing for another try. The next try was probably the most fun ever. Inspired by Wales, we created a 13 woman line out and using Alice and Lilly to break their defence, Anna was able to come back and join at ultimate pace to smash through and score.  The next try again was part of the double act of thing 1 and thing 2, with Anna stealing the ball from St George's and placing it at her hip to allow Lilly to just snatch it and run. Next Jenny, our ever reliable fly half, risked her life and her face for KCLWRFC. A large gash to the head meant a break in play and some blood injury time but she is OK, just a bit glued up now! A bit of re-shuffling of the team and suddenly we had El in the centres with Anna, leaving Alice and Lilly feeling remarkably protected on either side of them... El took part in her first proper backs move and scored a blazing try smashing through several players while the rest of us backs stood and watched. With the forwards stepping up their actions in the breakdowns, the backs got to have a whale of a time as Helena could feed cleaner and cleaner balls out. Confidence was high and it was just in the dying seconds that St George's managed to squeeze through for their second try (although when the ref apologises to our whole team for a pretty major error that led to this I don't think it's fair to blame any of us for that one). Final score 50-10 to KCLWRFC, and as president I can only say: It's bloody good to be back!

Notable Mentions:
Try Scorers - Harriet Orrell (C), Anna MacDonald (2), El C-V (1), Lilly Hunt (3 + 6 conversions + 1 penalty)
Forward of the match - Anna Layden
Back of the match - Anna MacDonald
No Dick of the Day, but Congratulations to Amy Carter for playing her first ever game!