Dorking Women 56 - 3 Staines Women
Dorking Women Triumph at The Big Field in 10 Try Bonaza
By Jess Freeman
The first Saturday in January is usually a bit of let down with post festive blues but not this Saturday, not at the Big Field and Dorking Rugby Club. The anticipation and excitement had been rising all week for the first ever home Saturday match for the Dorking Women Squad. With the whole club, members and sponsors support, a fantastic day was planned, and the Dorking team did not disappoint. After a sell out members and sponsors lunch, Dorking and Staines took to the field with a guard of honour from the girl’s youth section – our women’s team of the future.
The nerves were there but didn’t show as Dorking settled into their usual high tempo delivery with the first try coming for Naomi Brown at three minutes. With Rachel Higgins’ conversion scraping the paintwork on just the wrong side of the posts it was 5-0. With the Staines re start kick not quite making the required 10 metres Dorking retained the ball for a scrum put in from which the flying full back Jemma Wood, raced away to dab down for the first of her four tries. With the conversion again agonisingly close it was 10-0 with barely 7 minutes on the clock. From there it was clear that, despite a strong defensive opposition in Staines, Dorking were set to create a flurry of further tries.
A strong period of defensive play from Staines with some big tackles made kept the home team on their toes until Captain Lauren Parsons showed a cheeky dummy followed by a perfectly timed offload to give Higgins the first of her 3 tries. From the restart Dorking retained the ball with an attacking scrum and took play back into the Staines 22. Despite an incredibly strong Staines scrum, this was followed quickly with a return of favour and Parsons was able to take the ball over the line herself.
Sadly, Staines then suffered a significant injury and after a long period of stoppage time Dorking were able to re-start exactly where they left off with a well worked try for Higgins. Until now, conversions were proving elusive with two hitting the posts but in setting the ball down nearer the posts Higgins thad her first solid kick of the day leaving the score at 27-0 at half time.
Starting the second half Dorking clearly hadn’t decided to sit back on their laurels with Wood scoring their next try after just 30 seconds with Higgins strong kicking form carrying through with an excellent conversion. 34-0
Throughout the whole match Staines never gave up competing and following a period of strong attacking play put the Dorking defence under too much pressure forcing a penalty for offside within their ten-metre line. With a skilful kick at the posts, Staines put three points on the board.
Undeterred, Dorking hit straight back with Wood receiving the ball in her own half and running over half the pitch to take it over the line for her hat trick. This was followed by a really well worked team try with strong runs from Jas Pitt-Payne passing to Marcie Wood and out to Higgins for her third of the day followed by another conversion. 46 - 3
Still fighting hard, Staines made some big tackles in attempt to stop this relentless Dorking side but after a well worked lineout set piece, the ball was shipped to Jemma Wood who slipped clear again for her fourth try increasing her total as top try scorer in the league. 51 – 3 Parsons, not satisfied with just one try for the day shook off two defenders sliding in for the tenth and final try of the day, just too far wide for the conversion.
Final Score 56-3
Director of Rugby Armand Roux commented;
“It was amazing to see the level of support provided to the Dorking Women team as a sell-out lunch set the tone for the day.
Staines had strong pack but the Dorking Women stuck to process and moved the ball to where the space was.
I also hope the couple of injuries sustained by the Staines players are not to serious and wish them a speedy recovery.
Lots of credit has to go to the fitness and explosive nature of how Dorking Women approached the game in and my view the fitness is really setting them apart this year, alongside some cracking defensive work.
It was an amazing day at the club and lots of credit to Captain Lauren and her team”
Team: Ellie Richards, Steph Le Hur, Lauren Parsons © Jas Pitt-Payne, Lucie Warren, Amelia Corbett, Naomi Brown, Lynn Tickner (vc) Dara Wilson, Rowan Shiers, Nat Rudley, Rachel Higgins, Imogen Trigger, Carly Manning, Jemma Wood. Replacements – Tamsin Kerslake, Leah Garel, Olivi Dentus, Marcie Wood, Iva Hardwick, Lucia Schifano, Lexie Potgieter
Forward of day Lynn Tickner (VC)
Back of the day Imogen Trigger
Player of Match awarded by Mole Valley Asset Management – Rachel Higgins
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Thank you to Staines Women RFC for being an excellent opposition for this amazing day, to everyone at Dorking Rugby Club who worked so hard to make it happen, to all the supports who came down for the day but most importantly to the Dorking Women Squad and Coaches who have made this phenomenal season what it has been so far.
Our next Saturday home match will be for International Women’s Day on the 9th March v Dicot but until then we play Farnham at home on Sunday 21st January – it would be great to see you all down at the big field again. Until then we will recover, train hard until we go again!
