DMP Sharks v Bristol Ladies

Review

Bristol Ladies 1st XV secured their first victory of the season this afternoon with an emphatic away win over Darlington Mowden Park Sharks.

Tries from five different players helped the girls to a 47 – 12 win in a confident display of strength, skill and passion.

The first half started perfectly with a try and conversion from Abbie Brown quickly followed on the ten minute mark by Katie Mason who grounded the ball expertly to bring the score to 14 – 0.

Bristol kept the pressure on throughout the half with each member of the team contributing with great footwork and safe hands. Set pieces worked well and there was fluidity between the forwards and backs which amounted to a storming last 10 minutes of the half. Deborah Fleming, Abbie Brown and Claire Molloy notched up 15 more points, with Brown converting two out of three tries, bringing the half time score to 33 – 0.

The second half saw Becky Hughes yellow carded for tapping down the ball, however Danielle Waterman kept the momentum going for Bristol with a try on 49 minutes, converted by Brown. Katie Mason got her second on 58 minutes, again converted by Brown taking the score to 40 – 0.

The last 20 minutes saw Darlington stage a fight back with converted tries on 63 minutes (Scholes) and 78 minutes (McClean), but with a yellow card for Bristol player Baylee Annis and Darlington player Katie McClean the game ended on 47 – 12, with Bristol coming away with the bonus point win.

Forward of the match Rachel Taylor spoke to us after the game. ‘We knew they were going to come at us right from the start and they were very physical from the off. It was important that we threw down our marker in the first 10 minutes and came out strong which we did. I’m so pleased that we came out and performed, it’s what we’ve been building towards and everyone played their part. We started to let them through at the end which is something to work on over the next week, but I’m thrilled to come away with a well-deserved bonus point win!’