Sunday, October 27

RFU Women’s Cup (second-round)

Launceston Ladies 0

Bude Ladies 39

FRANKIE Perry scored four tries as Bude eased past a Launceston side playing their first-ever competitive match.

Coached by both Martyn Sandercock and Rhys Edwards, Launceston Ladies were started earlier this year and prior to the match, had only played two friendly games, both in the fortnight leading up to the game.

Mike Haines coached the Bude ladies, who have been going for a couple of years now. Both teams benefitting from greatly experienced coaches.

The game commenced with a strong start by both sides, then after only five minutes Hannah Pickard managed to push over the line to score Bude’s first try of the match.

Ten minutes later Steph Prior scored a further five points for Bude, followed by the first try by Frankie Perry, five minutes after that, to bring the score to 15-0.

Despite great play by both sides and good defending by Launceston, 30 minutes into the match and Frankie Perry managed to score her second try, closely followed by her hat-trick, which was ably converted by Lisa Honey. The first half ended with the score at 27-0 to Bude.

Launceston held the coastal club off for a full 15 minutes at the start of the second-half with some great passing, strong tackles and great kicking by Jenny Samways, but despite some good runs just could not break through the Bude defence.

The workload of the players on both sides was enormous and Launceston definitely gave Bude a good run for their money. Bude’s experience and Perry’s fast runs gave them the advantage, as she notched up their sixth try and second conversion, to bring the score up to 34-0. Launceston were much stronger in the second half and only conceded one further try, scored by Mel Ruby to bring the final score to 39-0 to Bude.

Launceston organiser Liz Armstrong said: “A huge thanks to all the Bude players who were so friendly and gracious throughout the match and a big well done to the Launceston players who never gave up and showed some enormous potential.

“One of the Bude players said ‘Launceston will be a force to be reckoned with in the not too distant future’ — great encouragement indeed and Launceston had a lot to be proud of.”

Bude nominated Hannah Pickard as the forward of the match and Jessica Martyn as the back. Launceston chose Vicki Doidge as the forward of the match and Abbey Matthews as the back, both of whom were relentless in their effort throughout the game.

Anyone interested in joining either Bude or Launceston ladies teams, contact:

Bude — Rachel Shackleton on email: [email protected]

Launceston — Liz Armstrong on email: [email protected]