By Alex Finnis
The first rugby action of this year’s Roses came in the form of two fixtures for the women’s rugby 7’s, with the 2nd teams kicking things off.
York had the early pressure, driving the Lancaster girls back into their own 22, but the Lancastrians soon began to regain territory and took the lead after seizing on a loose ball and capitalising with a breakaway try.
This was duly converted, and before long, Lancaster’s lead was doubled, the girls in red claiming possession straight after their own deep kick-off and their number 8 dancing around two of York’s defensive line and over the try-line to make it 14-0 going into half time.
York struck back early in the second half, Alex Khoo breaking superbly from her own 22 and using her pace to sprint over and make it 14-5. The comeback didn’t last long however, as a superb Lancaster crossfield kick fell into the arms of their winger, who coolly placed the ball between the posts to round off the scoring at 21-5.
Just as injury plagued York’s second string seven, with both Fiona Parr and Harriet Goodchild being forced to leave the field injured, so it did in the first team encounter.
York started on top however, and a fantastic passing move led to them taking an early 7-0 courtesy of the excellent Amee Wilson.
Lancashire replied quickly however, breaking down the right wing to make it 7-5, and pressed hard to increase their tally. The York defence were hard-hitting and extremely resolute though, and dealt with the threat well until a penalty was given away for a high tackle and the Lancastrians took full advantage, scoring and converting to put themselves 12-5 up at the break.
York continued to impress with their tackling in the second half, particularly Vivian Nguyen and Amee Wilson, who literally ran herself into the ground until she was forced to leave the field- a true display of passion and a sign of what Roses means to these rivals.
Lancaster scored once more before the final whistle, the game finishing 17-7 to the red rose, but with the determination and spirit shown by both our sevens sides, they should definitely not be ruled out of the full 15’s contest tomorrow, providing their key players recover from their injuries in time.