Ashford 5 vs TWRUFC Ladies 1st XV 24

22nd Sep 2024, KO 14:00

Ashford - Away

Live Text, Match Report & Information

Match Report

Our second game of the season started with a kick-off from Alex White, landing beautifully on Ashford's 5. With a strong chase from the ladies, a pick-up from a ruck from Emily Williams (returning from a head injury), led to a turn-over with Ashford now on the back foot.

Hollie O’Collaghan (FOTM) played her role well, drawing in the defenders for a quick off-load to Rachel Austerberry. She was then able to do what she does best; break through the defensive line, pass several players on route and score a try in the corner.

History tells us that an early try for Thanet Ladies usually leads to a win. Ashford, having played us twice last season, must be aware of this and ramped up their defense; a forward-heavy game-play meant Thanet struggled to make any breaks but Lia Armstrong and Katerina Stuart held their ground on the wings, seeking and creating opportunities that enabled Chloe Sidd to score a try. Converted by wanderers kicking pro Alex White.

Knock-ons from both sides saw the first half dominated with scrums, but the forwards, led by Holly Thurman-Newell and Georgia Elks, held their own. Both of which putting in strong-carries, which is typical play for the pair.

Neave Evans and Brioni Reah, debuting as flankers, put in ankle-grabbing tackles and strong ruck-support, making it difficult for Ashford’s backs.

However, an opportunity presented themselves that saw Ashford ladies make a break, narrowly missing our fall-back and scoring, making the score 12-5 With a scrum in Ashfords 5, skipper Gee Cordell put pressure on Ashford’s 8, leading to a Thanet possession and White was able to score her first try of the season.

The physicality of the game continued to put pressure on both teams, but an ambitious chip and kick from Chloe Sidd (BOTM) led to a two on one battle on the try line, with Chloe coming out on top and scoring her second try.

With another conversion from White, (naturally) final score was 24-5 to Thanet Ladies. We thank Ashford for their sportsmanship and hospitality, and look forward their hosting of to our re-match next week for the first round of the Papa Johns cup on the 29th September Last year saw Wanderers place 8th in the national competition, but this season we’re setting our sights a little higher.

As always, we welcome any ladies with any level of experience to attend our Tuesday training sessions at Thanet Wanderers between 6:30 – 8:00pm.