Try as you might, you cannot beat ‘em
Women's rugby that is
It’s been an amazing couple of weeks for women’s rugby, with three consecutive wins, all the hard work this season has really started to pay off. Most recently with a glowing 69-10 win over Kingston and a 38-5 win against Roehampton the week before, propelling Women’s Rugby into the South-Eastern Conference Cup Semi-Finals.This improvement can in part be attributed to the decision to focus solely on the BUCS league, and the organisation of weekly weight lifting sessions to supplement their training.
The match against Roehampton got off to a blistering start, with the first half dominated by Imperial and Captain Charlotte scoring a try within the first play. This was followed by a somewhat frustrating 20 minutes as the ball always remained within a quarter-pitch of the try line, but always unable to reach it. A couple of quicker pops to the wings as Imperial’s forwards were tackled could have seen a better progression up the pitch, but proficient rucking over of all the takedowns and keeping ball possession throughout was a strongpoint of Imperial’s game. This stationary period was ended when forward Laura broke through two Roehampton players to score a try. The game was paused shortly after as kicker Moran successfully converted a little too enthusiastically, the ball flying over a fence and into a river carrying it downstream, never to be seen again. Several valiant rescue attempts were made, but alas - they don’t make them like they used to and no player was willing to jump down the two metre concrete embankment. To finish an epic first half Charlotte scored her second try of the match, with a hat-trick in sight. 19-0.
The second half began with ten minutes of intense middle play, Roehampton missing a key opportunity to kick the ball away from their half, leading to back Anna capitalising on a dropped ball, grabbing it and double dodging to a try. There were two further tries by Imperial before a huge opposing push towards the end saw Roehampton score their first and only counter try of the game. Final match score 38-8, a great performance with a wide range of players scoring tries and conversions.
