Drybrook Rugby Club

Drybrook ladies travelled down Westbury for the second round of this season’s Junior Cup. The last visit to this particular ground ended in a 12 – 12 draw in the league last season.
Westbury kicked off towards the clubhouse but the ball dropped short of the line and the referee played on as he felt the ball was played by Drybrook. Westbury had clearly improved and Drybrook were going to have to work hard together as a team if they were to come out on top.
Great phases from the forwards and superb tackling from Molly Teague who had only just returned from injury followed by massive hard hitting tackles from number 10 Judith Arslan meant that Westbury’s big pack were limited to only a few metres per phase.
18 minutes in and finally a great carry from Lucie Smith and a well recycled ball gave the backs a chance with space out wide.
Great hands and a strong bump from winger Emma Gibson gave her enough space to cut back in field and score under the posts. Ellie Underwood converted to make the score 0 – 7.
Only six minutes later Ellie Underwood caught an interception from 30 meters out to score her first try of the match under the posts once again adding the conversion making the score 0 -14 to Drybrook.

A penalty was awarded to Westbury on 27 minutes when an early tackle from Roxanne Carter saw her visiting the sin bin for ten minutes.
Drybrook playing with 14 players meant they had to work hard to keep a well drilled Westbury team from crossing the line.
The second half kicked off and great pressure from Drybrook lead to the ball bouncing loose and Jess Hunt scooping it up and carrying hard into the Westbury forwards.
Just 4 minutes in and Ellie Underwood found space out wide to score once again under the posts adding the conversion making the score 0 – 21.
A great game from both sides and some excellent rugby showed no further score until 12 minutes in, when some great hands across the line from a penalty and a strong carry from Kara put her in for a try in the corner.
A massive conversion from Ellie Underwood made the score 0 – 28.
Two minutes later Ellie crossed the line for her third try of the game and with the conversion the score was 0 – 35.
Westbury was not prepared to go down without a fight and with only 15 minutes to full time left, managed to get on the score board making the final score 5 – 35.

A special mention went out to Emma Gibson who was playing her second game ever and is proving to be an absolute asset to the team

Players of the match went out to Ellie Underwood for her strong running and fantastic goal kicking, Lucie Smith for her hard hitting and great stripping of the ball week in week out not only today and Molly Teague for returning from injury and smashing everything that got in her way. Well done girls!

Drybrook Ladies XV; Lucie Smith, Stevie Liddiatt, Julie Ann Norbury, Roxanne Carter, Karina Hall, Molly Teague, Jessica Hunt, Shelley Bourne, Sarah Bevan, Judith Arslan, Kara Tucker, Ellie Underwood, Emma Gibson, Bethany Powell, Chanise Beard. Replacements; Lorna Griffiths, Frankie Meadows, Jenna Large.

VIEW MATCH PHOTOS HERE (Facebook)