Bristol Ladies vs Aylesford Bulls Ladies

Review

Trowbridge RFC hosted the first game of 2016 for Bristol Ladies today in semi-final of the Shield Playoffs. Bristol finished 5^th in the Premiership, meaning they faced Aylesford Bulls, who finished in 8^th position this season. The winner secures their place in the Premiership next season and a chance at the Shield, whilst the loser faces a battle to avoid relegation.

Both teams came out fighting, with a few big hits in the first few minutes from both sides. Once the game settled Bristol were playing some expansive and exciting rugby. A catch and drive line out was fed out to the wings, with Katie Mason showing off some great footwork – only for the ref to blow up for offside. The pressure continued to build, with the ball eventually finding its way to Sydney Gregson who dotted it down over the line.

Seven minutes later Aylesford got their first score of the afternoon after a period of sustained pressure in the Bristol 22. Taylor Kinsey found a gap through, and converted her own score taking the score to 5 – 7.

Daisy Travers was the recipient of a great offload and took advantage of an overlap to put Bristol back in lead with Lucy Demaine adding the conversion.

Half time – Bristol 12 (2 tries, 1 conv) – 7 Aylesford Bulls (1 try, 1 conv)

Bristol started the second half with a yellow card, when Poppy Leitch infringed at the breakdown after a team warning previously from the referee.

A minute after Poppy returned to the field, Bristol showed their dominance as Gregson got her second of the afternoon.

Ten minutes before the end Aylesford received a yellow card of their own, which paved the way for Katie Mason to score for Bristol. With encouragement from the Bristol support, Mason showed her pace and strength as she powered through the Bulls defence and scored right under the posts. Lucy Demaine converted, taking the score to 24 – 7

Aylesford kept fighting to the end, and managed to score through Catherine Spencer, who found a gap in the Bristol line to end the game with a score line of 24 – 14.

Final score – Bristol 24 (4 tries, 2 conv) – 14 (2 tries, 2 conv) Aylesford Bulls

A huge thank you Trowbridge RFC for hosting us today, and to the selection of U15 and U18 girls from Dorset, Wiltshire and Somerset who were our water girls and ball girls today. We’d also like to thank Steve Arnold who filmed the game for us this afternoon and to Rob Holman and Pete Reakes for their game day management.