3 hours Ago By [email protected] (James Bedford)
Stamford Women's Rugby have completed the first leg of a potential cup double. They retained the Notts, Lincs and Derbys Women's Cup on Sunday after victory over Long Eaton in the final at Derby Rugby Club. The purple, black and whites now travel to Sleaford on Sunday to take on Boston Ladies in the final of the Lincolnshire Cup (4pm) to seal a double-winning campaign.
Sunday's final was played on an artificial surface at Derby and the match, without a doubt, was the most tense and unpredictable game of the season. Long Eaton, who were deserved winners of Women's NC 1 Midlands (North) this season, started the match sprightly and were rewarded after nine minutes with a well taken breakaway try from their flying full back which was subsequently converted. Both sides attempted forages into the opposition halves but were thwarted by great defensive displays from each team and this continued until the 23rd minute when a penalty was awarded to the purple, black and whites directly in front of the Long Eaton posts.
Daisy Attley slotted the ball through the posts and Stamford were on the scoreboard. Stamford started to up their running game and were finally rewarded with their first try after 29th minute. From a scrum on the halfway line, the ball was fed by Attley to fly half Poppy Murray who kicked it towards the Long Eaton try line.
The ball was initially gathered by the Long Eaton centre but was fumbled and then turned over by the chasing Jorja Matchwick. Matchwick gathered the ball and, with a lot of powerful twists and turns, managed to place it over the line. Stamford found themselves in the lead which lasted nine minutes before Long Eaton regained the advantage through their full back scoring in the corner.
Stamford were next to trouble the scoreboard when, from a penalty on the Long Eaton five metre line, the ball was eventually fed by Attley to the powerful Emily Russell who ran route one towards and over the try line. Stamford had one final try in the first half. Murray was passed the ball on the opponents 22 metre line and then proceeded to use her strength and guile to pass five defenders before placing it over the line.
The try was duly converted by Attley and Stamford went into the half-time break 20-12 in the lead. Stamford started the second half with a spring in their step and, after just three minutes, extended their lead with a try from Catelyn Etherington. From a penalty 15 metres out from the Long Eaton try line, the ball was fed to Brogan Cranfield who powered towards the line and was stopped just short.
The ball was fed through the hands of Russell, Grace Walker and Chloe Goldsmith before it reached Etherington who was well tackled as she was going over the line but still managed to place it down to get the points. The game then went into a bit of a hiatus with both teams testing their opponents' defences without troubling the score. Stamford then found themselves the recipients of three very well taken Long Eaton tries which gave the Derbyshire side a 31-27 lead with 30 minutes of the match to play.
Stamford then dug deep and showed their usual stoic selves which resulted in the purple, black and whites coming back with two well taken tries of their own. The first was from a Stamford line out which was gathered by Etherington and then a rolling maul allowed them a further five metre gain before Attley fed the ball to Murray. Murray once again jinked her way past three defensive players and touched the ball down over the try line.
Stamford's last try of the match was courtesy of Cranfield. From another lineout, the ball was once again caught by Etherington. Another rolling maul towards the Long Eaton try line ensued which was initially fed to Kayna Penrose-Toms who deftly passed to Cranfield who charged towards and over the line.
However, Long Eaton were not finished and with seven minutes to go scored another well taken try to bring the difference in score to five points in favour of Stamford. For the final minutes of the match, it was to and fro between the two evenly matched teams. However, it was Stamford who finally were able to hear the large roar and applause from their coaches, subs and travelling supporters when the referee blew for the end of the match.
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