Wimbledon Ladies 42 – 4 Ealing
25th October saw Wimbledon Ladies travel to the lushness of west London in a grudge match against the Ealing Jades. It was Ealing, after all, who denied the Dons of a final 3 position in last season’s league due to their failure to turn up for the last game of the season thus depriving Wimbledon of points, bonus points and tries. With this in mind, a slightly nervy warm up lead to steely determination by the time the starting whistle blew.
It didn’t take long for this steely determination to turn itself into some fabulous running rugby from the backs and dogged fortitude from the forwards.
With many players out of position or relatively new to Wimbledon, the team could have been forgiven for playing slightly disjointed rugby. However, in testament not only to the coaches but to the players themselves, there was little evidence of this on the pitch. Each player seemed to be aware of their job and did it to the best of their ability.
As ever, Wimbledon were dominant in the line out and the work rate of the back row was exceptional. Marlo Kinnear (eventual forward of the match) can be singled out for not only making nearly every breakdown but also refusing to let anyone past her – putting in some super tackles.
The forwards faced some good opposition in the scrum, yet still managed to provide a solid platform for Sonic allowing some quick ball out to the backs who quickly took advantage of the speed on the wing. Although some moves were only learnt that morning, the backs penetrated Ealing’s defence with some inspired running lines and simple, yet effective passing.
Olivia Patterson, particularly, seems to have played herself out of her normal back row position by scoring 4 tries rightly earning her back of the match. Marlo, Rachel Webber, Mandie Jones and Kate Whittaker also scored.
Congratulations must also go to Sophia for her first full game at tighthead and new player, Gabby, who came on out of position in the final few minutes of the game.
The ladies have now played 4 and won 4 and sit comfortably at the top of the table. In the end, the game was succinctly summed up by Ealing’s captain when she said “it’s very hard to play against a team that don’t make mistakes”.
Next week sees the Dons take on Camberley at home - a team who, last season, the ladies had an unexpected loss against. However, with the season off to such a positive start, they should not let the momentum drop now. High attendance at training and a “heads on” approach should ensure that fortress Wimbledon still stands undefeated this time next week.
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