Stamford Women’s Rugby are beaten by Peterborough Ladies

Stamford Women's recent spell of three successive wins on the road ended abruptly on Sunday when they travelled the relatively short distance to Fortress Fengate.

They were beaten by a very well drilled and accomplished Peterborough Ladies side who ran out 24-5 winners.

The purple, black and whites started the match in a very positive mode and for the first 15 minutes seemed the brighter side with a number of pushing forays into the home side's half.

They were only stopped from scoring by a number of brawny defensive tackles from Peterborough's defence.

These incursions were made possible by the power and 'go forward' attitudes of the forwards and in particular from the ever-reliable Brogan Cranfield and the seasoned talents of Nikki Hudson and Sophie Cartwright.

Unfortunately, these forays did not result in any points on the scoreboard and it was the home team who scored first with a very well taken try from their impressive fly half.

Conceding the points rallied Stamford who continued to push towards the Peterborough line in search of an equalising try.

The pressure finally resulted in points for the visitors when, from a ruck seven metres out from the try line, the ball was fed out by scrum half Daisy Attley to the safe hands of captain Gemma Alcoran who in turn passed to the irrepressible Sarah Mitchelson.

Mitchelson ran two metres forwards before quickly feeding the ball to the charging Catelyn Etherington who in turn guided it into flying winger Georgia Mackinlay’s outstretched hands.

Mackinlay, seeing herself a few metres from the line, used all her power and guile to pass by two defenders and place the ball gracefully over the line.

This was to be Stamford’s only points of the game as the home team finished the first half with a converted try to lead 14-5.

The second half showed why Peterborough are the runaway leaders of the league as they pushed and pushed towards the Stamford line and were duly rewarded with a further two unconverted tries.

The scoreline could have been even greater in the home side's favour if it wasn't for the constant strong robust tackling from it seemed every member of the Stamford side who were dead set not to concede further points and to ensure that, while beaten on the day, their local rivals knew that they had been in a very competitive local derby.

Stamford's next match is at home on Sunday, March 2, for the rearranged league match against Ipswich Women.