First win of the season for North Down Women

Bangor was the venue for North Down Women this week when they took on a Cooke 2nds team in the Conference League where the kids from Bangor Rugby Club, who were present for a mini rugby tournament with Ards, cheered the North Down women onto the pitch.

The home side kicked off and started strongly as they pinned Cooke back into their own red zone for the first ten minutes of the game. Cooke however were able to use some of their more experienced players to break down the North Down defence. They finally broke through with a series of hard carries from their centres and fullback driving deep into North Down territory. At this stage of the match, Cooke had total dominance and starved the home side of ball for long periods of play. Despite some good strong defence and a number of clearance attempts, North Down could neither manage to retain position nor clear their lines for long enough to get a respite. The pressure applied from Cooke finally resulted in them crashing over for a try just to the right of the posts with an easy conversion to follow.

From the restart, Cooke again worked their way back into the North Down half and continued to apply the same pressure as before. The home team however started to get the measure of their opposition and were able to drive them back to the half way line with some huge tackles from both backs and forwards. The next 10 minutes were played with both teams probing each other in between the two ten metre lines. Cooke were the first ones to break the stalemate as their fullback broke clear and scored under the posts just minutes from half time. Half time score North Down 0 – Cooke 14.

The second half saw the North Down forwards getting the upper hand of the Cooke pack as they dominated the scrums and lineouts now starving the visitors of ball. With big carries by Julie Patterson and Ellen Glynn in the centres, and Beth McCambley at full back North Down were able to punch holes through the opposition defence and worked their way back into the Cooke red zone. From a break down wide out to the ball was passed through quick hands to Sam Smallwood who used her strength to power over on the right wing. The conversion was missed, but North Down were on the scoreboard at 5 – 14.

Cooke decided to take a quick restart which was fielded expertly by Liv Brown in the second Row who stormed deep into the opposition half with Victoria Presho and Sam Lowry in support. Ball was recycled quickly giving Danielle Perry and Stacey Marshall an opportunity to take play to within metres of the try line. Cooke managed to turn the ball over and clear their lines as far as the half way. From a series of short drives just inside the Cooke half, Colleen Hutchinson was able to power clear and to score under the posts. Colleen then stepped up to take the conversion bringing the score to 12-14.

With the momentum now in North Down's favour they again fielded the kick off. Beth McCambley broke clear only to be stopped just short of the try line. Again, the home side worked through their forwards and set up a series of rucks as they encamped on the Cooke try line. The pressure was eventually rewarded when they were awarded a penalty directly in front of the posts. Captain Shel Laffin stepped up to take the 3 points. With only 2 minutes left to play Cooke threw everything they had at the home team but North Down were able to hold them in their own half, and take the win by 15-14.

This is the first win of the season for the North Down Women who have been growing in experience and confidence with every match played. This week they are away to Randalstown in the Regenerate Shield and, with a win under their belts, they will be determined to continue to build on recent performances.