Women’s NC South West South 2

North Petherton Ladies 39, Bideford Ladies 5

NORTH Petherton Ladies continued their winning streak with a stunning 39-5 victory over rivals Bideford Ladies on Sunday.

Pethy started strongly with a long kick and chase,  and a knock on by Bideford resulted in a scrum for the home side.

The ball came out and was picked up by number 8 Lisa McClafferty, who stormed through the Bideford defence. 

McClafferty quickly offloaded to prop Rosie Wheeler, and Wheeler used her speed and strength to smash through to score the first try of the game, which was unconverted.

Despite some threatening play by the visiting side the home team were powerful at the breakdown – forwards Gemma Thorne, Kate Williams and Janet Dyer turned the ball over on numerous occasions.

Pethy built on their early period of pressure and dominated in the set pieces, stealing the ball from a Bideford line-out. 

The ball was quickly passed through the hands to captain Sam England, who took the ball over the line for Pethy’s second unconverted try of the game.

Following another scrum, fantastic ground was made and the ball came to full-back Claire Hancock, who stormed over the line for try number three.

The visiting side stepped up the pressure and crossed out wide for a great try of their own.

But then another Bideford line-out was stolen by the tenacious home team, and powerful running from the Pethy backs saw good ground being made by fly-half Stacey Saunders. 

Saunders offloaded to winger Williams, who popped the ball to Hancock to cross the whitewash for her second try of the game.

England then stormed over for her second, converted by Saunders, before winger Amy Clark dived into the corner for her first North Petherton try.

Bideford pushed hard, tackle after tackle was made, but the home team were out for revenge and Hancock completed her hat-trick with her team’s final try, which this time was unconverted.

This was a brutal smash-a-minute game with some fantastic play demonstrated by both teams.

Back of the match: Alana O’Dell
Forward of the match: Gemma Thorne