Stamford Rugby Club’s women’s team are through to a cup final after beating Kesteven Ladies
Stamford Rugby Club's women's team are one win away from an unprecedented treble.
The purple, black and whites have already been crowned Midlands 2 (North) champions and lifted the inaugural Lincolnshire County Cup last weekend.
They are now through to the final of the Notts, Lincs and Derbys Cup where Stamford will face hosts Lincoln Ladies on Sunday, May 26.
Stamford secured their place in the final after a 59-34 victory over Kesteven in their last four tie at Hambleton Road.
The hosts started the match with all guns blazing as they quickly took a 14-0 lead thanks to tries from Poppy Murray and the returning Hannah Dennis.
Dennis' try came from a ruck that had formed three metres from the Kesteven try line which was fed by scrum half Daisy Attley to the awaiting Dennis who then dummied two defenders and placed the ball over the line.
Stamford's next points came from a penalty and via the boot of dependable Attley after Kesteven infringed on their 22-metre line.
The home side continued their apparent dominance of the game with continuous forays into the opposition half and this was rewarded by a very well-taken try from irrepressible try machine Jorja Matchwick.
The ball was fed along the home team line and was off-loaded by Annmarie Mullen in the direction of Matchwick.
However, the ball was intercepted by a Kesteven back who immediately had the ball ripped off her by Matchwick who then proceeded to run straight towards and over the line.
Kesteven finally came out of apparent hibernation and started to play some effective rugby and were justifiably rewarded with two well taken tries.
This loss of points spurred Stamford back into action and, with Matchwick scoring a further two converted tries, the first half finished 38-12 to the home side.
It took Stamford four minutes of the second half to put further points on the scoreboard when fly half Murray intercepted an opposition pass near to the halfway line and sprinted unopposed towards the Kesteven line and placed the ball between the posts.
Two minutes later it was Matchwick who once again darted over the try line and placed the ball between the posts.
Stamford's final try of the night was Matchwick’s fifth of the match and came courtesy of initial powerful running from Dennis deep in her own half who, when eventually tackled, passed the ball to captain Gemma Alcoran who in turn pinpointedly delivered it to the charging Matchwick who sprinted from just inside her own half towards the Kesteven line and placed the ball between the posts.
The game certainly was not over at that point however as Kesteven suddenly found their second wind and for the final 15 minutes of the game were in the ascendency and, quite rightly, finished off the remaining time as the better team.
This period of ascendency was rewarded with three converted tries and the match finished off 59-34 to the purple, black and whites.
Special mention should go to the Stamford kicking machine that is Attley who had a perfect kicking rate of eight out of eight conversions and a penalty.
