SLEAFORD LADIES 0
LINCOLN LADIES 83
NLD CUP
BY JOSEPH VERNEY
PHOTO CREDIT: SPARX PHOTOGRAPHY
Centre Jenna Bierton crossed for a double hat-trick of tries as Lincoln Ladies secured top spot in their group, and a place in the NLD Cup Final, with an 83-0 win away at Sleaford Ladies.
Lincoln went into the game knowing only a win and at least seven tries would be enough for them to move above Boston, who they drew with 10-10 earlier this month.
The hosts scored 13 tries to ensure they did finish top to set up a two-legged cup final clash against Long Eaton.
Harriet Fluck grabbed four tries and Jade Morgan scored one, while Emelia Twesigye’s brace was part of her 28-point haul.
Although Sleaford didn’t get on the scoreboard, they never gave up and showed great spirit throughout the match.
Lincoln didn’t have it all their own way however after handling errors led to an early disallowed try, while forward Georgie Tomlinson was forced off with an ankle injury.
Sleaford battled hard to keep Lincoln out and full-back Sherrie Christian disrupted four promising attacks from the hosts inside the opening 10 minutes.
Lincoln were not to be denied soon after as good forward work on halfway led to a break down the right. The move was finished with a brilliant pass out of the back of the hand from Ella Frow to set up Fluck, who ran in for a try under the posts. Twesigye added the extras.
The try gave Lincoln confidence and scrum-half Jade Morgan and fly-half Abi Lee controlled the first half for the hosts, constantly pinning Sleaford back with some intelligent kicking for the backs to feed off.
Ella Frow, Midge Newsome and Casey Thompson all worked hard against a bigger forward pack and their work at the breakdown set the foundation for the backs to be able to dominate.
Twesigye and Bierton combined well in midfield and opened up the Sleaford defence on halfway. Good cover defence forced Bierton wide left and Twesigye backed up well to ran past the last defenders to score a try.
Bierton crossed for her first try before Lincoln soon extended their lead when Frow broke through on halfway and carried the ball to within 10 metres.
She then popped the ball to Bierton, who ran in under the posts for a try and Twesigye successfully slotted over the conversion.
Bierton ran onto a short pass from Twesigye on halfway before running clear and rounding the full-back to complete her hat-trick and give Lincoln a 31-0 lead going in at the break.
Lincoln still needed two tries to ensure they finished top of their group and started the second half with the same intent that they had played the first.
Sleaford excellently snuffed out a number of attacks for Lincoln, but the hosts scored their first try of the second half after 48 minutes. Good work from Lee and Twesigye put Bierton in space and the centre outpaced the cover defence to go under the posts for a try.
This was the first of four tries in just 10 minutes for Lincoln with Bierton adding another and Fluck adding a brace to complete her own hat-trick. Twesigye successfully converted three of the four tries.
Fluck then ran in for her fourth try of the match from around 30 metres out after a great break by Lynne Brooker-Brown. Twesigye successfully kicked over the conversion.
Lincoln increased their lead further when brilliant work by Laura Greggs and captain Shannon Snell, and quick-thinking by Morgan at the base of a ruck, saw the scrum-half run in for a try from 20 metres out. Twesigye once again added the extras.
A quick pick and go by Snell from a ruck on halfway opened up the defence. Bierton then ran in for a try to the right of the posts, which Twesigye converted.
The Lincoln forwards continued to carry well and from the kick-off a quick ball from a ruck set up Twesigye. The centre, who was named as Lincoln’s Back of the Match, stepped her opposite number and beat the Sleaford defence to the line from 35 metres out.
POST MATCH COMMENTS
Lincoln Ladies Head Coach Brian Kelly said: “We had talked about playing with as much pace as possible in the run up to the match.
“The ladies started almost too quickly, with a few mistakes and unforced errors, as well as some excellent Sleaford defence, especially Sherrie Christian, keeping us out for nearly 15 minutes. But once they settled into the match they showed exactly how good they can be.
“We’re extremely proud of how the ladies played. The defence around the rucks was amazing and didn’t give Sleaford the opportunity to use their bigger forwards.
“It’s brilliant to see the girls have so much confidence in themselves.”
Try hero Jenna Bierton said: “It was an excellent effort from the Lincoln Ladies. We had a target of scoring seven tries to get through to the cup final and we smashed that target.
“Hats off to Sleaford who never gave up and kept defending until the last minute.”
Sleaford flanker Rebecca Grice, who continued her comeback from a long-term injury against Lincoln, said: “With this being only our second game back after 18 months, it was not the game we expected. Lincoln are a fantastic team and well disciplined.
“There are positives to take away from the game and any game time is positive game time.
“Sometimes the games don’t happen, but we will take what we learnt and learn and improve for the weekend’s game.
“We always love playing Lincoln and there was fantastic sportsmanship from both sides.”
POST MATCH AWARDS
LINCOLN
BACK OF THE MATCH – Emelia Twesigye
FORWARD OF THE MATCH – Lucy Ellis (Second Row playing her first full game of rugby after only starting in the sport two months ago)
COACH’S PLAYER OF THE MATCH – Jenna Bierton
SLEAFORD
BACK OF THE MATCH – Sherrie Christian
FORWARD OF THE MATCH – Jody Melville
COACH’S PLAYER OF THE MATCH – Kelly King
