Coventry Bears: Ladies do the double

Ladies do the double

In the second of their games against the armed forces the Carvell Coventry Bears RLFC Ladies team played the British Army Ladies at Old Coventrians RFC on Saturday.

The girls who last week had defeated the Royal Air Force Ladies went into this game hoping to keep their unbeaten record for this season. They knew they would have to work harder then ever against a well drilled Army outfit. Especially as the Bears were missing some crucial players.

The home side lost the toss and the Army elected to kick off. This gave the Bears the opportunity to mount an attack early in the game. Progress was slow up the field as the Army’s defence proved solid and the Bears were confined deep into their own half. It was Kyra Gleeson who got the ladies out of their half with a thundering kick down field. Then it was the turn of the Army to attack with some blistering runs from their forwards but the Bears defence held out. There was a stalemate for 25 minutes with both sides attacking and not being able to get through either’s defence.

Rem Mills playing at hooker pulled on the number 9 shirt for the first time in 4 years, as Captain Debbie Drake was forced to vacate her usual hooking role for that of Scrum-half. After a sizzling performance Rem may have displaced the England International from her favoured position. Her passing and tackles in defence were first rate.

The Army pounced first breaking the deadlock with a try in the corner but were unable to convert. This gave the Bears some time to get their breath back after being shocked at the pace of the game. Once again the Army came back strongly and nearly scored again but the referee deemed a double movement. The Bears heaved a sigh of relief and re-grouped again with some great drives up the field by Kerry Williamson and Jen Mills. Finally the Bears ladies reached their opponent just failed to give the Bears the lead when she failed to add the extras.

The Bears were starting to adjust to the pace of the game and the pairing of Debbie Drake and Ali Lewis started to gel and cause problems in the Armies defence.

Coventry’s Steph Stoney scored with another good run and try with Abi Chamberlain converting to make the score 10-4 to the Bears.

It was the Army that started to wilt at the pace of the game but their defence still proved hard to beat.

Half time: Carvell Coventry Bears ladies 10- British army Ladies 4.

The Army benefited from the break and had now found their second wind. Time and again Helen Price proved her weight in gold in the fullback position again and again foiling their attacks. But eventually the pressure told and the visitors scored two tries pulling ahead 10-12. The Bears rallied and began a fight back with their never say die attitude.

From the restart the Bears were rewarded with head and feed at a scrum and they scored managed a try from Gemma Sharpe scoring on her debut, the kick was converted by Abi Chamberlain to restore the Bears 16-12 advantage.

Pinned into their own half it took Hattie Edwards and Stacey Tolley to steady the ship as they went looking for the ball more and more.

The Army were not beaten and still looked dangerous and they looked likely to score but sterling work from Helen Price held off 2 attackers. Helen tackled the girl with the ball who offloaded but in an amazing act Helen jumped off the one attacker and tackled the other girl.

Still the Army came forward and in numbers and again were powering themselves to the try line when Gemma Sharpes came out of nowhere and made the tackle of the match by stopping their number 7 dead in her tracks.

The Bears finally got over the half way line with some good solid sets of six and Lindsey Barlow impressed with her running. The Army knocked on in their half and the Bears pounced scoring their second try from the base of the scrum. Gemma Sharpes going in to run the ball over the line taking the scoreline to 22-12 in the Bear favour.

Yet again the Army fought back and had the last try of the game scoring with only minutes left on the clock. Winning 22-18 the Bears again re-grouped and won the day with some more solid defence.

After the game coach Michelle Umaga was not lost for words, “It was our defence today that kept us in the game and with tackling like that it will be hard to get points past us. I had to smile when I heard the comments from the army that Debbie would make an excellent drill sergeant”

The J& S Landscapes Women of the match was jointly awarded to Jen Mills and Debbie Drake.

The Carvell Coventry Bears Ladies will be looking for a hat trick of wins against the armed forces when they face the royal navy women’s team at Old Coventrians RFC on Wednesday July 9th at 7pm. admission is free and everyone will be welcome