Ladies see off their season in style

SMOBL went into their final game of the season following a home walkover the previous weekend desperate to get game time and seal the league title. It wasn’t long until SMOBL found themselves on the scoreboard with Ellie Clarke Mary’s first try of the match and the first of her hatrick. This was quickly followed up by tries by Laura Rugman, Chloe Tucker, Lucy Bowering and Jo Smith within the first 20 minutes.

It may have been the backs getting all the tries but the hard graft was done by the forwards giving them a solid platform to work with. Lisa Yip’s hooking was particularly impressive, hitting double figures for her balls against the head steals. The forward’s strong scrummaging and clinical breakdown work allowed quick, clean ball to the backs which lead to Clarke crossing over the line just before halftime giving Mary’s a healthy lead.

Bath came back at SMOBL in the second half with fierce tackling and testing Mary’s at the breakdown. However, it wasn’t long until Lisa the beast Larsen came off her wing and ran through a number of players to get herself over the try line. This was followed up by further tries by Clarke, Bowering and Chloe. Bath continued to press the Mary’s line with strong ball carrying and putting pressure on the Mary’s defence allowing them a good platform to work from after SMOBL were continually penalised around the park. In the final play of the match, Yip snatched another ball from the Bath scrum allowing Bowering to kick the ball into touch and finish the match winning 62-0 and the NC2 South West North title.

I would just like thank all SMOBL ladies who have played this season, their commitment to training and games have been the driving force behind such a successful league campaign and every woman should be proud of the way they have played. There’s a great spirit of belief in the team and their mentality to never give up has made both coach, captain and vice proud to lead such an incredible squad. The ladies finish the season on 52 points in the table with a run of 13 unbeaten league games scoring 419 and only conceding 67, making a healthy 352+ points difference.