Bletchley Ladies back on form in Bridgnorth crushing

After going down 40-5 in their first match this season, this Sunday was the flip side of the coin as they put a hurting on their opponents.

Bletchley won the toss and took the opening kick. Bridgnorth knocked on, giving Bletchley the scrum. A quick pick from the back, passed out to Caroline Collie saw her run in the first try, just one minute into the game! Rachael Taylor found the posts to open the scoring at 7-0.

This was to set the tone for the first 15 minutes. Collie put the ball down between the posts, converted by Taylor just three minutes later, followed by Emma Taylor, converted by her sister, a further three minutes into the game. By the 12th minute, Collie took another try in the corner. The ball dropped short on the kick, giving a score of 26-0.

Bridgnorth were putting everything into defence, but Bletchley Ladies were on fire. Bridgnorth stole the ball from a Bletchley ruck, then forced a penalty from their visitors. They took a quick tap and passed along the line. They then gave a penalty, which Taylor kicked to touch. Bridgnorth stole the ball from the resulting line out and passed out again. Bletchley turned over a ruck, then play took a break for injury, restarting with a Bletchley scrum. It looked like Bridgnorth might be getting back into the match, with possession moving back and forth between the teams.

Slowly but surely, Bletchley moved play back towards the Bridgnorth line. A strong maul, followed by a penalty from Bridgnorth put Bletchley back in Bridgnorth’s 22. A knock on from Bletchley gave Bridgnorth an opportunity to move play back, but they conceded a penalty. Bletchley took full advantage, passed along the line to Emily Castle, who put it down in the corner to secure a bonus point for Bletchley, making it 31-0.

Bridgnorth were still not going to roll over. They put everything into the remainder of the half. Bletchley dug in, showing their bulldog nature, but a turnover at the scrum, followed by some good moves through the hands, saw Bridgnorth convert their effort into points a couple of minutes before the whistle, but it was still only 31-5.

The second half saw more of the same: Bridgnorth continued to defend hard, and it took a good 12 minutes before Bletchley were able to add any more points to the board. Finally, Bletchley took possession from a Bridgnorth line out, passed out to Collie who ran through the defence to put the ball down between the posts. Another conversion from Taylor moved Bletchley on to 38-5.

Three minutes later, Collie and Taylor did it again to extend the lead to 45-5.

The next 10 minutes gave another two sets of points, the first from Collie and Taylor, finishing with a try from Beth Metcalf, again converted by Taylor, taking the final score to 59-5, moving Bletchley Ladies up to fifth place on the table.

Next week Bletchley Ladies travel to Buckingham to try their luck in the first of two local derbies they face in this league.