Christmas bonus for North Down Women

This weekend North Down Women’s (NDW) rugby travelled down the M1 to Portadown for their final league match of the year. This was a close contest with North Down just edging ahead at the end of the game to finish the year off with a 22-25 win.

NDW kicked off, playing toward the clubhouse. The Portadown blindside wing forward fielded the ball and carried over the half way line before knocking the ball on in the tackle. From the scrum NDW attacked up the short side via winger Natasha Brown who set the ruck giving her team the chance to settle into the game as they worked through several phases of play before being awarded a penalty for an infringement at the breakdown. Campbell opted to kick for touch giving her forwards a lineout on the Portadown 22 metre line. Some good solid defensive work from the home team resulted in a turnover ball. Their No. 8 got the ball in space and broke clear down the centre of the park, only to be dragged down 5 metres short by Kaitlyn Eadie. A quick off load from the tackle left her out half with the simple task of finishing the move, scoring just right of the posts. With the conversion to follow the home team went 7-0 up, very much against the run of play.

From the restart NDW worked their way back into the opposition 22 through big carries by Megan Gallogly and Kaitlyn Eadie. From the base of the ruck Amy Harris moved the ball to out half Campbell who put No. 8 Sam Lowry into space to crash over the line just to the right of the upright. Unfortunately the referee judged it to be a double movement and awarded the penalty to Portadown. The kick was launched straight down the middle of the field giving NDW the opportunity to work back into the opposition territory again. Lowry picked and broke right from a scrum just outside the Portadown 5 metre line, committed the winger and slipped the ball to Sam Smallwood who darted over for her first score of the day. Score 7-5

At the restart Portadown put huge pressure on the visitors and were rewarded when the ball was eventually knocked on deep inside NDW territory. From the scrum the ball was moved to their inside centre who crashed over for an unconverted try. Halftime score 12-5

Portadown continued to take advantage of this momentum scoring a third try within 2 minutes at the start of the second half. From the restart Victoria Presho turned over the ball which was moved to Kaitlyn Eadie who broke clear and looked certain to score, but was stopped right on the line. Stacey Marshall was right on hand to lift the ball and barge over before Portadown had even got back from the kick-off. Score 17-10

North Down now started to take control of the game retaining possession and winning the territory battle. In the backs Eve Millar, Angie Eadie and Anna Robinson started to find space. From a turnover by second row Jill Shaw on the Portadown 22, Angie Eadie broke through the defence wide out to the left. The ball was quickly recycled and moved to blind side flanker Liv Brown who carried hard, but was stopped short. Again Portadown were penalised for not releasing in the ruck. Campbell took a quick tap, dummied to Pauline Moore, stepped the defender and slipped over for try number 3 which he duly converted. Score 17-17

The Portadown restart dropped straight into the hands of Liv Brown who went on yet another surging run carrying over the Portadown 10 metre line. This was backed up by another carry by Campbell who looked to link up with Fiona Milligan on the left wing, but the Portadown hooker managed to get her hands to the pass and ripped the ball to stop the move, and set up clean ruck ball for her out-half to clear the lines with a superb kick into touch just outside the North Down 22. At the lineout Kaitlyn Eadie secured the ball and barged straight through, setting up a ruck just inside the NDW half. The ball was moved to Angie Eadie at outside centre who used her footwork to find a space and then broke free down the right wing. A good covering tackle from the Portadown full back stopped Eadie in her tracks, but she was able to off load the ball as she hit the ground giving Smallwood her second try of the game. Score 17-22

The home side however had not given up and continued to fight for possession at every ruck. This effort was rewarded when they were awarded a penalty in the middle of the park. They opted to keep ball in hands and worked their way up towards the NDW 22 metre line. Another turnover from Presho at open side flanker gave Campbell the opportunity to clear her lines with a kick deep into the home team’s half. Portadown’s ever-present No. 8 was there to collect the ball, and went on another of her storming runs where she broke clear and scored under the posts. The conversion attempt rattled off the cross bar to leave the score level with five minutes left on the clock.

This did not seem to dampen the spirits of the North Down side who were playing with sheer determination. With some excellent work in defence they pinned the home team back into their half as they pressed hard at every phase. With huge hits being put in by the captain Danielle Perry and her fellow prop Pauline Moore in the forwards; and with Campbell and Millar in the backs Portadown simply couldn’t find a way to clear their lines. Eventually they found space out on their left, but Michelle Presho raced forward from full back and put in a thumping tackle on the Portadown winger who knocked the ball forward and into the hands of Smallwood who pressed forward and cut back towards her forwards for support setting up the ruck between the Portadown 10 and 22 metre lines, where Portadown were once again penalised for not rolling away in the tackle. Captain Perry looked toward Campbell who slotted the ball neatly between the posts for the vital 3 points.

The home team were also playing with determination and went straight back on the attack with a huge press of their own. The final minute of the game was played out with North Down working extremely hard to retain possession deep inside their own half. The ball was finally kicked into touch to which there was a huge cheer of celebration from the North Down team, and supporters. Final score 22-25

[match report courtesy of Gary Presho]