Penryn Ladies 0 v Plymstock Albion Oaks 14
Another hard day at the office for Penryn Ladies as they find their feet in their first season in National Challenge 1, however a performance with many positives and a huge improvement on recent form, which shows the team are moving in the right direction.
The first home match of 2022 started strongly for Penryn as they put early pressure on the visitors right from the kick off, which resulted in a scrum to them in the oppositions half. From this a superb pick up by the number 8 Rickard, who got the ball out through Dennis at scrum half to winger Myhill, making her debut for Penryn, who made a superb run only to just be tackled into touch. This lead to a relentless passage of play where Penryn attacked the line time and time again, only to be held up and denied a score for the physical efforts of the forwards. An injury to Fullback McKelvey and some forced errors stopped the Penryn momentum, which allowed Plymstock to eventually end the deadlock with a superb break through the centre, and despite a great cover tackle from fly half Blanchard, it was off loaded for a try, which was also converted.
Penryn came back fighting again from kick off piling on the pressure and forcing errors, which allowed their pack to show their dominance in the scrums and gain territory. However, the Plymstock defence held strong and the home team just could not break through. When they turned over the ball, Plymstock were able to put the pressure back on Penryn with some intelligent kicking from their fly half and the visitors were able to capitalise, unlike the home team. Penryn held Plymstock on the line after a penalty and defended every carry with Plymstock not making any ground up against a solid defence, until eventually they spun it out the width through the hands and scored their second try in the opposite corner, which was also converted leaving the first half score line 0-14.
The second half was a complete deadlock with both sides showing brute force in defence to prevent the other side getting over the line. Penryn still continued to dominate in the scrums but Plymstock were able to close down any attack the home side tried to play from them. Similarly Plymstock’s line outs were more effective but Penryn were up solidly in defence to shut down their opponents attack. The final stages of the game were played mainly in the centre of the pitch with neither side gaining much advantage over the other, despite some strong lines of running from both team’s centres and back row. The match finished with the same score line as the first half, and the visitors took the points.
Despite the score, Penryn have a lot to feel positive about as there were some promising performances from new players and those returning from injury, the scrums remained solid even with replacements showing the depth they have in the forwards, and some individual stand out moments from players who are upping their game as the season goes on.
The ladies now have a week off to regroup, work on their line outs and use of space and get ready to travel to North Petherton 30th January.
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Match Report: Louise Dennis
