Sunday, February 4

Friendly played at Bicton College

Withycombe Women 41

Bude Women 10

BUDE fell to a 41-10 defeat at Bicton College against a Withycombe side who pulled away in the second-half to record a comfortable victory.

Bude arrived with a team prepared to play out of position, and Withycombe capitalised on some early confusion to score twice through Molly Tregedeon and Sian Williams.

The visitors fought back hard and grabbed their first try when impressive scrum-half Lisa Honey showed great control to go over from close range after some industrious build-up play.

Bude made it 10-10 when winger Emma Steffanoti ran from 40 metres to go over in the corner.

However, Withycombe had the lead at the break after Charley Keile touched down after good running from India Chambers and Bridget Culver.

The second-half started well for Bude, but injuries to key players such as fly-half Bonnie Hillier and Nicole Rowland, playing at 12, brought the game to 13-aside.

With space outside, the experience of Withycombe told, and they used the end of the game to run up 26 second-half points, although that didn’t reflect how hard Bude had worked.

Both injured players returned to the field later in the game, a good sign for the rest of the season.

The Withycombe coach stated ‘this was the best performance of our season’ which shows that they had to play their best to beat the brand new Bude side, who’ll be back in action next Sunday (February 18) when they travel to Totnes.

It’ll be a busy weekend for the women as they host an ‘Inner Warrior’ session at the club on Saturday morning (11am).

Players of all abilities are welcome as are beginners. The session will be ran by RFU-qualified coaches. To find out more, search ‘Bude Women’s Rugby’ on Facebook.

Bude —

Claire Onions, Maxine Holder, Hannah Pickard, Ayan Dolal, Rachel Shackleton, Alex Gallagher, Tia Gray, Steph Prior (captain); Lisa Honey, Bonnie Hillier, Nicole Rowland, Ema Glaze, Gemma Maynard, Emma Steffanoti

Tries: Honey, Steffanoti

Pens: N/A

Convs: N/A