The women’s first team returned to Ellgia Fields for their league clash against Aylesbury, marking the occasion with pink socks in celebration of International Women’s Day. Having faced some tough battles against Aylesbury in the past, we knew we were in for a hard-fought match.
Early tries set the tone, with Abbie Walker scoring her first try in a pick-and-go from the base of a ruck, followed by Jaz Reed slicing through the opposition defence with her trademark scything run. A break in play due to injury to team stalwart Alex Perez Pion (who suffered an avulsion fracture of the ankle and sadly will be sidelined for a while) rattled the team and allowed Aylesbury to claim their first try. The team regained composure quickly, with tries coming thick and fast from Sarah C, Georgia, and Allegra, supported by three successful conversions from Vera. Aylesbury added another score just before halftime, leaving the score at 31–10.
The second half saw substitutions making an immediate impact, with Louise Hamilton and Ashleigh Parsons (scoring her first try) crossing the line. Additional tries from Mez, Amy, Jaz, and Allegra, paired with one more conversion from Vera and two from Kate W, cemented a dominant performance.
Appropriately for International Women’s Day, (and because the coaches were genuinely at a loss for where to award player of the match, given the superb performances put in by all of the matchday 22) Players of the Match were voted for by the non-playing members of the squad, including Leane, Rhi and Amy North, who completed the Cambridge half then whizzed down to support. Back of the Match went to Amy, a true live wire on the field. She impressed in both positions she played: directing play confidently at fly-half in the first half and making 30m gains from quick taps at scrum-half in the second, forcing Aylesbury to scramble back, and culminating in a well-deserved try. Forward of the Match was a three-way tie between Ashleigh and Phoebe, for phenomenal scrummaging, ball carrying, and tackling, and Mez for her relentless work rate and all-around contributions.
Meanwhile, Cambridge development team hosted an Inner Warrior game, joing forces with players from CURFC and Ely to play vs March, St Ives and Saffron Walden. In the first 3rd the visitors dominated with 3 tries in quick succession. Cambridge picked up in the 2nd third with 3 tries (Ria, Pia and Sarah) to tie the game. Effy also came so close to scoring a 4th but was unfortunately held up. The visitors came back again in the final 3rd with another 3 tries. Cambridge finished strong with a try from Rose in the final seconds of the game to finish 20-32.
The entire women’s squad would like to thank Alison and JJ Jeffrey, Janet Banks, Kyle Kotkin-Smith, Jane and Lee Taylor who came to attend the game as well as Bob Coote.