Issue 1247 - The Courier

Sport
thecourieronline.co.uk/sport
YORK
LEFT
BEHIND
BY NCL
LAX
LACROSSE, P45
www.thecourieronline.co.uk
Tuesday 6 March 2012
Issue 1247
Free
Hull feel the
force of NURL
p.45
Photography: Hubert Lam
Hallam no match for NWR
Firsts prevail despite Captain Lebrecht’s injury
WOMEN’S RUGBY
Newcastle 1sts
Sheffield Hallam 1sts
By Phoebe Lebrecht
at SHEFFIELD
31
17
With the sun shining down on them,
the undefeated NWR travelled to
Sheffield for the first of two consecutive
Wednesday fixtures against Hallam.
Once off the bus, the girls braved
the third-world changing rooms and
tiptoed through the toilets before
donning their team Newcastle crests
and jogging out for the warm-up.
With only one ball, the warm up was
slow and concentration was slipping.
Due to injury, there was a bit of a
shuffle in the starting side and with
Captain Phoebe Lebrecht on the
sidelines, little fresher Rosie Neal
stepped up for her fly half debut. A
rocky start saw NWR under pressure,
but it wasn’t long before number
12 Holly Malins was galloping
through the Hallam defence to place
the ball under the posts. Pat Lapierre
showed off her Canadian converting
skills putting NWR 7-0 ahead. Hallam
came back with a vengeance and
a scrum on NWR’s five metre line
gave Sheffield’s bean-pole of a no.8
the chance to break blind, and break
blind she did, breaking a couple of
tackles and crossing the line to bring
the score back to 7-5. Trusty fullback
Pat Lapierre did not let her head go
down and within minutes NWR
struck again, some excellent support
running from Vice Captain Sophie
Bale and strong running from the
likes of Jenny “the machine” Richards
and Charlotte Flint saw Pat firmly
over the line. Lapierre added the extra
points to the board with ease and
the Nubiles had extended their lead
to 14-5. Hallam restarted and immediately
put NWR on the back foot.
The pressure from the strong Hallam
forwards saw NWR losing their defensive
line. This momentary lapse of
judgment created an overlap for their
powerful fullback who left no prisoners
when she flew down the wing.
Malins, fuming at the cheek of Hallam
putting 10 points past the mighty
NWR so quickly, returned the favour
before half-time. Lapierre failed to
convert but the Nubiles were up 19-
10 at the half-time whistle.
After an inspirational team-talk
from Coach Greeny and Captain
Pube, the girls were hungry for a win.
They kicked off with all the right intentions
but Hallam took the ball on
the full and came back fighting. Early
into the second half, Richards went
down with an almighty scream and
she wasn’t crying wolf. With a boot to
the face, Jen had an eyebrow to challenge
Rocky Balboa.
The medi-bag was in full use as
NWR (who all think they’re doctors)
nursed Jen’s brow. There was no stopping
the machine and once Jen was
bandaged up she was back on for
round two.
Some strong forward balls and
trusty hands from our friends Hallam
saw them catapult their bean-pole
no.8 across the try-line. They converted,
putting the score at 19-17.
At this point Captain Phoebe Lebrecht
had called for cardio as her
heart wasn’t going to be able to take
much more of this. Seeing their fellow
Politics buddy in such a state,
Centre Emma Boyle and scrum-half
Hannah McShane rallied the troops
and injected some inspiration. In the
closing eight minutes, excellent hands
and great communication saw NWR
play at their finest. They laid Hallam
to rest with two more tries, leaving
the pitch with a 31-17 victory.
‘Forward of the match’ was awarded
to Rhian Hockey for her outstanding
tackles and perseverance. ‘Back of the
match’ went to Lauren Wallace, our
courageous winger and ‘Player of the
match’ was picked by Sheffield as Rosie
Neal, for an excellent performance
for her debut at stand-off.
Storming
through
to finals:
Armstrong
and
Agrics
make
the grade
Intra Mural Rugby, p42-43
Photography: Hubert Lam
Photography: Hubert Lam
MEN’S THIRDS SECURE
PROMOTION BUCS IN BRIEF, P45
Photography: Moises Bedrossian