Pride in defeat for Bletchley Ladies

Bletchley took the opening kick, which was gathered up by Gloucester who quickly moved it up the pitch. Within two minutes of the opening whistle, they had put it over the line, giving them the opening score. The kick went wide of the posts but Gloucester led 5-0.

The remainder of the first half was hard fought, but despite good pressure from our Bletchley Ladies constantly recycling the ball, the opposition took advantage of handling errors in the wet conditions to keep moving it away from their line. Bex Driscoll managed to get the ball over the line just before half time, but an opposition hand worked under it to hold it up, leaving the score at 5-0 at half time.

Gloucester took the honours to open the second half. Bletchley took possession and worked their forwards. Paly reverted to Gloucester for a while after Bletchley gave a penalty, but another from Gloucester gave the ball back. Taylor booted it into their 22. Gloucester moved it through several phases, then knocked on to give Bletchley the scrum. They pushed back into Gloucester’s 22, then it was their turn to knock on.

Gloucester passed out from the scrum, then kicked the ball up the pitch, only to have it run back at them. Bletchley sustained strong pressure on the Gloucester line for a good ten minutes, but eventually Gloucester took possession after a poor line out and worked their way towards the Bletchley line. Bletchley fought hard, but couldn’t prevent Gloucester’s second try going over the line after a tough 20 minutes of play for a 10-0 lead.

Gloucester took the ball from the restart, but lost it at the ruck. They moved up, knocked on, then regained possession after the scrum. Another knock on further up the pitch gave it back to the visitors, allowing them to regain lost territory, before they did the same and returned the ball to Bletchley, who worked the phases and pushed into Gloucester’s 22 again. They continued to creep forward slowly, thought they were met with a strong defence from the Gloucester forwards.

A scrum at 15m was turned over by Gloucester, giving them the opportunity to move play away from their line. Possession alternated, with play staying in the middle sector. The ball found Taylor’s boot and flew to within metres of the Gloucester line. Gloucester kicked it back, only to find Clare Stacey’s hands. The yo-yoing continued, but slowly Gloucester pushed Bletchley back into their half. In the last minutes of play, the succeeded in breaking through the Bletchley defence, and took the closing try. Another missed kick left the final score 15-0.

A loss for Bletchley, but as this team has put a minimum of 63 points on a game sheet this season, Bletchley Ladies gaining a losing bonus point and preventing Gloucester from getting a winning bonus.