Stamford Rugby Club are the inaugural winners of the Lincolnshire Women’s Cup
Stamford became the inaugural women's rugby champions of Lincolnshire on Sunday when they overwhelmed their Scunthorpe counterparts in a 71-5 demolition.
The final, played at Spalding Rugby Club, saw the purple black and whites, buoyed on by large travelling support, start the match briskly and after only three minutes they scored the first of their tries courtesy of the sprightly Jorja Matchwick.
From a maul on the opposition 22 metre line, the ball was passed swiftly along the line to Matchwick who then charged along the pitch and went over in the corner to score.
Brogan Cranfield was next on the scoresheet with a textbook break off from the rear of a maul three metres out and powering her way towards and over the line. The boot of Daisy Attley put the score at 12-0 with only seven minutes gone.
Stamford went up yet another gear and were always in the ascendency for the first half with Scunthorpe managing to advance into the Town half a handful of times without coming away with anything.
Particular mention should be made of the stead-fast defensive skills of the forwards including Immy Isaacs, Chloe Goldsmith and Sophie Cartwright for preventing Scunthorpe progressing into the Stamford half.
With the flying try-machine Matchwick managing to bag herself another four tries in the first half and, with Attley kicking a further three conversions, Stamford took a 38-0 lead into the break.
The second half started off in the same way as the first ended with Stamford continuing to make charges into the opposition half.
Cranfield started the second half try fest when she was fed the ball from Jess Gargan two metres from the try line and once again charged towards and over the line.
Next up was the indomitable Matchwick racing towards the try line, leaving defenders in her wake, before placing the ball between the posts.
The next try was for the women in green as, for the first time in the game, Scunthorpe stormed into the Stamford half and were well rewarded when their scrum half quickly took a penalty, fed it to their charging number 18 who stormed over the line to put points on the board.
Play, and points were then passed back to Stamford when Sarah Mitchelson was passed the ball on the opposition 22 metre line and ran towards the try line, swatting off defenders like flies, before placing it over the line to score.
With kicking machine Attley taking a well-earned rest, up came Poppy Murray to slot the ball between the posts.
For the next try normal service resumed when Matchwick caught a Scunthorpe defensive kick 30 metres out and jinked her way through the defence to score her seventh try of the day.
Stamford's final try of the match came from Kayna Penrose-Toms who, fending off three defenders, powered over the line to score. The try was converted by Murray.
With the final score at 71-5, it was over to the cup presentation where captain Gemma Alcoran lifted the trophy to tumultuous cheers from all present.
Stamford are back in action, and on the hunt for the treble, on Friday night when they take on local rivals Kesteven Ladies in the semi final of the NLD Cup, kick off 7.45pm.
