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Once again Kath Vass provides a colourful report and her own pun for the title:
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Well, another bright day at Myreside, a stiff northerly breeze and the need for half-time restorative cups of tea marked this game from the beginning. Cold, but luckily that only applied to the sideline jockeys. The game itself kept moving.
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With a resonance similar to the last match at home, possession was kept by Sonians firmly in the Uni half for most of the game. The game started well for Sonians as your reporter barely had time to open a sweetie-wrapper and the first score was in, a try by Pratt. Too far in the corner for it to be converted. One minute gone and Sonians were leading 5-0.
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Another burst of fine running in the centres and the ball moved, again, to the near side of the ground. Excellent interplay between the Sonians brought the attack within 10m of the line but play had to stall. Internationalist Anna Pana was down, with what looked like a severe knee injury. A real pity for a woman who has shone in her last few outings. A blow for the team, but the chance for one of the bench to enter the fray; Nicholls called in from her touch-running duties.
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After the injury there was a quick restart and a swift score by Evans, preceded by a nifty bit of shuggling footwork to dot under the posts. With the conversion, it was twelve minutes gone and Sonians up 12-0.
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Nicholls was soon subbed off herself as a blow to the nose started it bleeding. A short respite on the side and repair effected she was preparing to go on once more. The other member of the bench was on, Hamshaw glad to be playing a full part as she is unavailable for next week.
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At this point your reporter was speculating where the fire from the previous two games had gone, were Sonians reverting to the old habit of dropping to the opposition standards or were Uni just powering themselves up? The play from both sides seemed a little ragged, with the Uni centres dropping balls. Sonians were also suffering from a chronic lack of support as some extraordinary solo runs were wasted, they would need to improve to force what should have been an emphatic win.
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Worries we quelled when a great move, after another excellent piece of tactical kicking by Evans, allowed Sarah Jones to score in the top left. No conversion left it at 17-0. After the restart an infringement by Uni gave Sonians a chance to recover from a scrappy period of play where the ball was lost. Sonians fired forward, sideline chat turned to prawn salad (M&S, of course), but we all looked like staring sea creatures as Sarah Jones, again, put the ball in the favourite corner. 22-0.
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This appeared to fire something deep within Uni as they ploughed up the field and, after a rushed kick-away by Pratt, scored. 22-5. Struggling to score by kicks Uni also missed a sitter of a penalty giving the half-time score as 22-5.
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The early minutes of the second half were marred by the second serious knee injury, young gun(-ette) Sarah Halliday having to leave the park. As Stewart Robertson so rightly commented, he'd hardly seen any of the game because of the number of 'customers'. That left the bench empty and visiting second-rows and old props alike being jokingly asked if their boots were handy! (That day will come, Ash, fear not.) A penalty in front of the post to Uni was held off as Uni's powerful no.1 took it on again. Definitely an impact player!
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A kick away to touch by Sonians, should have given Uni a safe line but it was taken in to the sure hands of a returning Garnett, the swift passing of the ball released Murray in to the centre of the field and a powerful 40 m run. That short flurry of action slowed and Sonians struggled up toward the Uni goal line. Murray again popped up with the ball in the centres to take it wide and lay off a slick pass to Sarah Jones who went in for her hat-trick.32-5. As the half, and the match, drew to a conclusion Sonians piled on the pressure twice more enabling Scotland Hooker Walker to score, a fine brace of tries. The last one converted by the ever-consistent Evans.
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The last major move of the game was from the visitors as Uni slid past the complete Sonians defence to score under the posts. Converted that gave the final score as 44-12.
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Final Score 44-12.
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Player of the match: Sarah Jones
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Team : Fisher, K. Walker, S-L. Ho, K. Garnett, S. Jones, S. Jones,E. Barlow, A. Evans, E. Mckeown,S. Wilson, E. Halliday, S. Panayopolous, A. Murray, C. Pratt, A. Gray, L. Subs: Nicholls, N. Hamshaw, G.
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"Watsonians sit proudly on their own, 2nd in the Women's premier league..... and (we) need to do our best to maintain it. We are a team, we play like a team and we will do it." Lousie Fraser, Ladies Captain
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Next match at HOME versus GHA. 18.11.07 2pm
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KSV
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watsoniansrugby.com
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Published: 12/11/07
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