Lancaster destroyed York in the women’s rugby. They were stronger in the scrum and more dangerous on the attack while York, to quote a nearby spectator on the touchline, “played laterally”, passing the ball sideways until they ran out of pitch. They simply had no confidence in driving through the Lancaster defence, while the Red Rose had a field day, scoring no less than 8 tries.
York actually had the better of the early running, Aimee Miller, York’s fly half and captain, dancing through before being tackled at the last. However, the strength of the Lancaster pack paid dividends, one of their turnovers producing the first try in the corner on the 10 minute mark, which was converted. The score was increased very soon afterwards, this time Lancaster missing the conversion. Half way through the first half, the score was 12-0.
Then, the Lancaster centres came to the fore, scoring no less than 4 tries between them in a short 20 minute spell before half time, all of them nearly identical to each other, breaking through the Black and Gold defence and sprinting unopposed towards the try-line. increasing the score (with the help of some conversions) to 36-0 in the blink of an eye, as the half time whistle blew.
The second half was played for the majority at a much slower place, York visibly dejected and Lancaster not trying as hard, as the result was already decided in all but the blast of the final whistle. However, the Lancaster scrum half did touch down in the corner mid way through the period, to increase the score to 41-0.
Towards the end of the game, York had a spell of possession in the Lancaster final third, yet again were hampered by their lack of confidence in driving towards the try-line. To add final insult to injury, York had the ball in a very promising position, being turned over, again the Lancaster number 13 running down the other end of the pitch and passing simply to the full back who touched down under the posts. That was converted with the very last action of the game, as the referee blew the final whistle with the score at 48-0. York were humbled, but lets hope this is only a blip in the bigger picture of Roses 2011.