RN WOMEN VICTORIOUS AGAINST PAIGNTON
On 9 Jan at the Rectory, the RN Women beat Paignton Ladies 21 - 5.
Right from the whistle, the RN dominated Paignton and pushed them down to their 5m line. The RN stole the Paignton lineout ball and pressurised there line, resulting in a try for Navy Scrum Half, Lt (Caroline) Oakes (857NAS). AB (Sam) Alderson (HMS Scott) stepped up and kicked the conversion. RN (W) 7 - 0 Paignton.
LETWE (Emily) Atkins (HMS Portland) runs caused no end of trouble for Paignton and gave the Navy backs a good platform to work from. However, the Navy where penalised for not ‘rolling away' and a quickly taken penalty by Paignton pushed the RN(W) back into their own half with only staunch Navy defence stopping Paignton from scoring.
The Navy responded through Cornwall flanker Lt (Charlotte) Fredrickson (849 NAS) who was playing at centre for tonight's game showed her pace to set-up the Navy's 2nd try, scored by Lt (Paula) Bennett-Smith (NATO Northwood) which was again converted by Alderson. At half time, the Navy led 14-0.
The Navy Ladies started the second half strongly and only the ‘scramble' Paignton defence stopped an early Navy try. However, it was at the cost of a player as Paignton were reduced to 14 players for 10 mins. Playing with 14, Paignton continued to fight back, keeping the RN pinned in their own 15m for long periods.
The Navy eventually ‘broke out' and the ball came along the line to winger ETWE (Lauren) Tobbell (HMS Portland), who showed her pace to take the ball deep into the Paignton half, only a last ditch tackle by Paignton stopped the Navy adding to there score.
Navy Coach NA (Chris) Ellor (RNAS Yeovilton) brought on AET (Kate) Broadbere (CHFHQ) for NNS (Alice) Kightley (Defence School of Health Care Education) in the 2nd Row.
19 mins into the second half Paignton gave away a penalty close to there line and a quick ‘tap' led to a try for Fredrickson with Alderson scoring the conversion (21 - 0).
The Navy made another replacement, with Bennett-Smith being substituted for the returning Kightley. Paignton continued to battle and were rewarded for there endeavours a just before full time as Paignton scored an unconverted try. Final score, RN (W) 21 - 5 Paignton Ladies.
Assistant Coach, Ellor said "I was really pleased to see how well this development squad came together to win this game, particularly with several new players. This was Caroline Penrose's first game as Captain and I was impressed with how well she performed under pressure".
The Man of the Match was awarded to AET (Zoe) Harrup (848 NAS). This was her first game of rugby and she won every line out ball (both RN and Paignton) and put in some brilliant tackles.
Thanks to Devonport Services RFC for hosting this fixture at short notice.
The Navy Women return to Devonport to face Plymouth Albion on Wed 6 Feb
Squad:
1 - AET (Lisa) Christie (702 NAS)
2 - OC (Aimee) Sadler (BRNC Dartmouth)
3 - LETWE (Emily) Atkins (HMS Portland)
4 - NN(S) (Alice) Kightley (Defence School of Health Care Education)
5 - PO (Zoe) Beer (RAF Digby)
6 - NAAH (Caroline) Penrose (RNAS Culdrose) (Captain)
7 - AET (Zoe) Harrup (848 NAS)
8 - Lt (Paula) Bennett-Smith (NATO Northwood)
9 - Lt (Caroline) Oakes (857 NAS)
10 - AB (Sam) Alderson (HMS Scott)
11 - ET WE (Lauren) Tobbell (HMS Portland)
12 - Lt (Charlotte) Fredrickton (849 NAS)
13 - AB (Leigh) Oyebanji (HMS Portland)
14 - ETME (Sophia) Dockerty (CFPS SQUAD)
15 - LStd (Helen) Ing (NCHQ DNPers) (Vice Captain)
16 - AET (Kate) Broadbere (CHFHQ)