FRANKIE Perry scored six tries as Bude Women had their first taste of winning at home in front of an impressed crowd of local supporters as they beat Bideford 42-0 at Bencoolen Meadow.

Bideford Ladies offered Bude their first opportunity to play 15-a-side rugby, with a little help from additional Bude players who showed true team spirit by playing for the opposition.

A special mention must be made for rugby debutante Alex Gallagher who came to watch, and ended up playing almost 60 minutes!

Bude Ladies dominated from the kick-off, struggling to take the ball cleanly in the strong cross-pitch wind but successfully recycled the ball to Vinnie James, who made a fantastic run from outside centre through three tackles before Bude support players were needed. Putting their training into practice, scrum-half Lisa Honey directed the forwards to enable quick ball out for the backs, and it wasn’t long before the ground was eaten up and full-back Perry touched down over the line.

Although Bideford looked dangerous throughout the first-half, particularly with a scrum on Bude’s five-metre line, they couldn’t get their teeth into the game, and hooker Maxine Holder stole the ball back for Bude, releasing Perry to sprint the length of the field to score.

Tries from Perry rained in throughout the afternoon, unlike the poor weather, which held off for the duration of the game. Bude appeared the more disciplined and drilled side despite the experience of Bideford, and both coaches commented afterwards that a lot was learnt by all who took part.

The home side struggled in the scrums in the second-half as the weight advantage of Bideford showed, but the grit of Bude’s back-row and second-row players meant any ball Bideford got was soon shut down, demonstrating significant improvement in Bude’s defensive line from their first game against St Austell just a month ago.

In attack, support players were never far away, as Kerry Thorne demonstrated scoring from some amazing interplay between the backs who made effective use of the speedy new winger, Gemma Maynard.

Bude women were thoroughly enjoying themselves, but after a word from coach Les Cushing were determined to keep Bideford off the scoreboard in the second half too.

Offence being the best form of defence, Bude maintained composure and kept the tries coming, again and again releasing Perry to dance around Bideford’s wings, and Bonnie Hillier playing at fly-half showed off her footwork with a 30-metre kicking race against Bideford defenders before the ball bounced kindly into her arms for a touchdown to the left of the posts, which Perry converted in a lull from the constant biting wind. At the final whistle Bude had won, 42-0.

A club spokesperson said: “Bude women would like to thank the support of Bude RFC and all those who came to watch on Sunday, we hope to see you again on Sunday, November 19, for the visit of Teignmouth.