Richmond Women v Worcester Ladies

Review

Worcester Ladies returned from the Athletic Ground having moved into third place in the Premiership following this excellent result.

Both sides were forced to field a number of second team replacements due to international commitments, but perhaps no one in the premiership outside of Worcester would not have predicted this result.

Worcester opened strongly, penning the home side in their 22 for eight minutes but in Richmond’s first attack, the visitor’s slack discipline gave Jayne Goodliffe the opportunity to open the home sides account with a well struck penalty.

Worcester hit back immediately with a flowing backs move that ended with Lisa Campbell scoring in the corner.

Richmond then used their heavier and more experienced pack to deny Worcester possession and it was perhaps inevitable for Becky Essex to score following a scrummage, Goodliffe taking the extras. Half time:  Richmond 11- Worcester 5

Coach Kat Merchant’s half time talk clearly had the desired effect as the visitors stormed forward from the kick off, this pressure resulting in an early penalty for Megan Goddard to reduce the deficit. From this point Worcester took command of the game with forwards and backs integrating well.  Such was the strength of the Worcester defence when called upon that the visitors opted for penalty kick attempts.

With the balance of possession now reversed, Kelly Smith scored an excellent try under the posts, outpacing the home defence from her own 22. Goddard took the extras.

Excitement mounted as Richmond brought the game pack to one point with a penalty from Goodliffe, but the visitors then pulled away to record an excellent and comfortable victory with further tries from Laura Keates, converted by Goddard, and Rochelle Clark.

Whilst being satisfied with this result, Worcester perpetrated numerous handling errors and failed to release players in space frequently. They also need to develop better discipline, conceding 9 penalty points and yellow card in this game.