Drybrook Ladies 31pts
Plymouth Albion Ladies 20pts
Drybrook Ladies took on top of the league Plymouth Albion Sunday 19th February in what was a grudge match after facing a tough crowd away earlier in the season.
Emma Gibson started the scoring for Drybrook within 2 minutes as she carried strongly right through the opposition centres with a great carry fending of four players to score to the right hand side of the sticks.
It was only early but Drybrook were more determined than ever hitting every breakdown relentlessly.
On the 4th Minute it was skipper Ellie Underwoods turn to please the crowd, attacking the Plymouth outside centre and scoring from 40 meters out. She then added the extras to give Drybrook a 12 – 0 lead. 12 minutes in and Drybrook were still the strongest side by far.
From nowhere Ellie once again powered through the defence, shaking off her closest defender to score under the posts from 50 meters out.
Then on the 20th minute Drybrook took a massive blow when they lost outstanding Flanker Jessica Hunt to injury.
Jessica had really been outstanding as always and was a huge loss to the side both mentally and physically.
However former captain Shelley Bourne was ready to replace her after returning from injury and was keen to add impact.
Drybrook stepped off the gas a little with no further scores until 30 minutes in when Plymouth forced through the Drybrooks defence to score out wide and close the gap to 17-5.
The final score of the half came from Plymouth on the 40th minute to narrow the half time deficit.
Half time:
Drybrook Ladies 17pts
Plymouth Albion Ladies 10pts
With just a 7 point gap a few strong words of encouragement at half time put things into perspective and lifted a few dropped heads.
The second half kicked off pretty much the same as the first with Drybrook applying immense pressure.
However Plymouth defended well keeping the home side out until the 52nd minute when Ellie scored yet again. She then added the extras to make the score 24-10.
After a nail biting 80 minutes and a further score from Ellie Underwood and two tries from Plymouth the game ended with Drybrook victorious at 31-20.
Each and every player played extremely well with special mentions going out to Chanise Beard, Emma Gibson, Karina Hall, Hannah Meek and Carla Brown who all really stepped up for the game.
But players of the match went to captain and outside centre Ellie underwood, number 8 Dorrie Morley and winger Bethany Lawrence.
A very special presentation went to Lauren Wall who unfortunately didn’t get on but is an absolute asset to the team and turns up week in and week out.
Drybrooks supporters on Sunday were amazing and certainly helped carry Drybrook through to victory and all the players and coaches are extremely grateful for the support. Drybrook currently sit in 5th place in the league with only 11 points between them and top of the league Plymouth with three games left to play Come on Dry!
Drybrook Ladies XV: Lucie Smith, Chanise Beard, Stevie Liddiatt vice-captain, Karina Hall, Micha Harris, Jessica Hunt, Emma Gibson, Dorries Morley, Katryn Brain, Kara Tucker, Bethany Lawrence, Hannah Meek, Ellie Underwood Captain, Carla Brown, Judith Arslan. Replacements Shelley Bourne, Lauren Wall, Chantel Lewis, Lourna Griffiths, Carla Jenkins, Olivia Pritchard.
