Saturday
04
May
2019
Northumberland Senior Women took on Yorkshire Senior Women on the 4th May 2019 at Morpeth RFC.
In what was their final game of the county season, Northumberland Women were left to bemoan their faltering attack after they were defeated 37-0 by Yorkshire Women.
The early stages of the clash were dominated by a series of huge defensive shots that set the tone of the game.
And while Northumberland started brightly in defence, it was Yorkshire who got off to the better start.
Camped deep in Northumberland’s 22, Yorkshire managed to seize the initiative early on, executing a nice two on one out wide which put flying winger Sav Andrade over for the women in whites first try of the afternoon – fly-half Grace White converting to hand the visitors a 7-0 lead.
Keen to put the visitors under pressure, Northumberland immediately looked to attack following Yorkshire’s early score.
But unfortunately, inaccuracies close to Yorkshire’s try line halted Northumberland from crossing over, with the visitors repelling wave after wave of pressure.
Not to be deterred Northumberland continued to press for a score of their own – but were unable to find their cutting edge, with Yorkshire managing to survive Northumberland’s fast flurry of punches.
If Northumberland were inaccurate with their possession, Yorkshire were anything, but with full-back Lauren Bolger crossing over out wide after some nice hands to score the visitors second try of the afternoon – the score sitting at 12-0 in their favour after 20 minutes.
Then like London buses Yorkshire managed to go over again for their third try of the afternoon, with Bolger again dotting down in the corner following a deft kick in behind the Northumberland defence.
With the score sitting at 17-0, Northumberland knew they had to respond.
But despite perhaps their best spell on play late in the second half, Northumberland’s attack faltered at just the wrong moment, handing Yorkshire a get out of jail free card.
And when the half-time whistle went, Northumberland found themselves facing a 17-0 deficit.
The second half started in similar fashion to the first, with both sides keen to take control of the contest. Unfortunately for Northumberland, it was Yorkshire who did so.
Buoyed by their defensive solidity and sharp attack, Yorkshire went on an early second half rampage with tries from Alex Wallace, Vicky Pinks and Lois Brown handing the visitors an unassailable 32-0 lead.
And while the second half was a relatively quiet one, it did not stop Yorkshire adding further to their total of tries, with Alex Wallace crossing over for her second to push the visitors lead out to 37.
While Northumberland came close to crossing over on numerous occasions, they remained unable to cross the whitewash.
And when the full-time whistle went, the hosts had succumbed to their Yorkshire rival’s dominance with the contest finishing 37-0 in the visitors favour.
Match report provided by Oscar Haley