Drybrook ladies travelled down to Dursley for the return friendly fixture. With Durlsey hosting an u16s fixture on the main pitch the ladies were sent to the top pitch to play the match which proved to be very windy indeed. Gail force winds blowing across the pitch was sure to prove difficult at times. Drybrook lost the toss and Dursley chose to play against the wind first half. Dursley only managed to find 13 players for the occasion so Drybrook were forced to drop one in the pack and one in the backs. Drybrook kicked off and chased well, a massive tackle from Lorna Griffiths tackling a Dursley player into touch provided Drybrook with the lineout. Due to the wind the ball was lost to Dursley and they had their first chance in attack. Drybrook defended well, then from a breakdown the ball was turned over and Drybrook’s quick hands meant Frankie Meadows was the first to cross the line only five minutes in no conversion meant Drybrook was in the lead 0 – 5. Both teams looking evenly matched it wasn’t to the 20th minute before the next score was made with Drybrooks Ellie Underwood crossing the line and getting her name on the score sheet.
It was great to see the return of Gemma Withington from an ankle injury sustained in preseason. A special well done goes out to players of the match Emma Gibson who played her first game of rugby and Lorna Griffiths who had only started playing rugby this season. Drybrook squad : Jenna Large, Chanise Beard, Natasha Kibble, Chantel Lewis, Lorna Griffiths, Karina Hall, Hayley Jones, Jess Hunt, Jude Arslan (Capt.), Emma Gibson, Ellie Underwood, Frankie Meadows, Alice Griffin.
On the final play of the first half a crash ball by Flanker Hayley Jones added to the points this time Ellie Underwood added the conversion to make the score at half time 0 – 17 to Drybrook.
Dursley kicked off kicking deep into the Drybrook half but in the chase they left a staggered doglegged defence allowing Ellie Underwood to catch and run the full length of the pitch to score her second try of the match. 5 minutes into the second half and this time it was Jess Hunts turn to add her name to the score board with Ellie adding the extra points Drybrooks lead was now 0 – 31. Dursley was not prepared to take the loss lying down worked hard to gain ground and managed to score in the bottom corner. Less than 1 minute later Ellie Underwood scored her third try of the match and converted making the score 5 – 38. Drybrook was relentless in attack but a series of penalty’s awarded to Dursley meant that Drybrook had to work very hard indeed to defend their lines but Dursley managed to find a gap in the defence and scored their second try of the game under the posts along with the conversion meant the score was now 12 – 38.
With only 3 minutes left on the clock Drybrooks
Captain Jude Arslan scored her first try of the match taking the lead to 12 – 45. On the final play of the game Jude once again managed to exploit a gap in the Dursley defence ending the game with a final score of 12 – 50.
Replacements: Stevie Liddiatt, Julie Ann Norbury, Gemma Withington, Beth Powell, Roxanne Carter, Marie Grindle