St George's @ Home (50-10 Win)

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!