Ladies give a convincing win over Camp Hill

The ladies in red, white and black were in buoyant mood having returned to winning ways last weekend and knowing that recent history against today’s opponents was on their side. That, added to try scoring practice during the week, was to bode well in the 80 minutes to come.

The tempo was set early on with hard tackling from Amelia ‘my face is still intact’ Neagle and a steal from Emma Nichol followed the dominant Novos scrum turning over the ball and strong work in the maul from Fran ‘Mockers’ Mockford. A promising break by the two Novos props of Chrissie ‘Waller’s Carer’ Miller and Pasha broke down but the vociferous home support were somewhat pacified by the sight of mini Diz bouncing on the tackle pads under the watchful eyes of the Novocastrian’s yummy mummies club who were gathered on the sideline.

The Sutherland Park faithful did not have to wait long for their heroes to break the deadlock with Tash ‘bulldozer’ Robson running a fantastic line off Fanny to find the space to cross the whitewash after 12 minutes. Novos continued their ascendancy with excellent work under the high ball from Meals and more strong running from Tash taking Novos over the gain line, time and time again. Camp Hill were forced into an early substitution as Novo’s supremacy didn’t waver with sterling work in the scrum from hooker Jen ‘didn’t need Kleenex today’ Meagher. Such was Novos dominance that a flock of seagulls took up residence in the Novos half of the field, safe in the knowledge that they did not look like being disturbed any time soon.

After half an hour, Novos extended their lead with quick hands from the backs leading to a cut back inside by Fanny ‘Interception Queen’ Fouin drawing the defender then a pass out to the left to set up Mrs Cooper to power over the line, the try well converted in a swirling breeze by Nichol. This try was soon followed by another score with Fanny living up to her interception reputation, reading the Camp Hill pass and darting in to score between the posts.

The first half also saw more hard running from both Tash and Ceri, the latter who dished out a brutal hand off to a Camp Hill face, drawing cheers from the assembled rabble on the balcony. The seagulls were once again in residence in the Novocastrian half seemingly pre-empting further Novos joy and were not to be disappointed with a beautifully worked loop round by Emma Nichol resulted in the Novos inside centre scoring by the left hand post to ensure the ladies from the north went into the half time break four tries to the good.

The second half saw Sarah Marshall replace Fran Mockford who had suffered a blow to her face during the first half to ensure her good looks were to remain intact and Sam West taking the place of Mrs Cooper for a run out on the wing.

Camp Hill started the second half in intriguing fashion with the Novos kick off being met by a flying kick reminiscent of a scene from ‘Karate Kid’. Before those on the balcony could finish their “wax on, wax off” jokes, Novos had another try down the right wing, courtesy of Laura ‘she’s married you know’ Stewart diving over in the corner.

Shortly after, Mrs Stewart and Meals made way for Caitlin and the welsh wanderer Claire to enter the fray. Another hand off, this time from Struth, proceeded yet another Novos try as Tash Robson once again forced her way over the try line under the verbal support of Chrissie Miller ensuring everyone on the pitch (and sidelines) knew where the white wash was.

Novos made their final changes with Cat and Lauren coming on for Sedge the General and Chrissie meaning that Caitlin moved to scrum half for the final part of the match.

Novos continued to assert themselves over their opponents with good tackling from Sam out on the one wing and excellent defensive chat on the other from Lauren to ensure that Camp Hill could not find a way through the solid Novos line supported by hard tackling from Katie Crute. Fine work from fly half Struth on the half way line to draw in the defender before feeding ‘ Le Flash’ Fouin who raced through to show a clean pair of heels to the ladies in claret and blue, putting Thursday’s diving practice into action as she crossed the line.

Novos quickly regained possession , setting up a fantastic show and go from Caitlin down the right that set up a yet another line break for Tash who unfortunately momentarily forgot what colour Novos were playing in.

A solid performance at full back from our hot blooded Irish woman, Racheal Flem was topped off by her scoring a try running a hard line off Nichol’s shoulder. Flem’s devoted husband noted that his dearest wife’s walk back to the half way line was reminiscent of the Verve’s music video to ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ (those born after 1993 may need to google this).

While there was to be no more tries to entertain the watching hordes, they were treated to a dart through by Sarah ‘Where has my bobble hat gone’ Marshall, ended by a suspicious looking tackle around the neck unseen by the referee. A valiant display by Jen ‘I might actually need my Kleenex’ Meaghs was applauded as she left the field to see the return of Chrissie to the front row.
The final whistle brought cheers from the Novos faithful having watched their team blow away their opponents in style and a return to the field for the seagulls.