Throughout the season Sarah Lennon will keep us up to speed on the women’s game and she was on hand to cover events down at Anglesea Road last Saturday…
Old Belvedere RFC was the setting for the 2nd annual Leinster women’s blitz. There were 6 teams in attendance on the day, a lower number than hoped but with the day clashing with the Leinster women screening day and the annual Open days around the Province it seemed that there were many other activities to contend with.
The clubs represented were hosts Old Belvedere Ladies, Kilkenny Ladies, Enniscorthy Panthers, St Mary’s Women and debutantes Wicklow Ladies and Railway Union Women.
The day was filled with glorious sunshine and some big hits as many of the women involved were experiencing their first taste of contact rugby, outside of training. It was also a chance for players and referees alike to road test the new laws, in particular the new scrum call which was in evidence on the day.
The rugby was played in 20 minute matches, 10 minutes per half and despite the relative inexperience of a lot of the women there was no shortage of commitment and fantastic tries.
Wicklow rugby fielded a women’s team for the first time and were delighted with a draw in the second match against St Mary’s. Wicklow have a number of younger players having fielded a strong youth team in recent seasons and are sure to have learned from the experience. St Mary’s themselves are fielding a J1 team this season and will have been glad to get a number of new recruits bedded in. Kilkenny showed their experience with some good performances even with only 8 fit women by the end of the day and Old Belvedere also put in some good performances, missing out on the final on points difference.
The top two on the day however were Enniscorthy and Railway Union, sporting a distinctive pink and purple kit. Despite the gruelling day and sunshine and ignoring the spectators sporting beers and burgers, both teams put in an excellent performance in the final scoring some fantastic tries. Railway Union were the stronger of the two however and secured the trophy in their first ever outing as a team, quite the performance from the debutantes.
The day wasn’t over however with the barbeque still hopping, ably attended to by the many volunteers on the day, a “hooker’s challenge” involving a ball and a tyre and the ultra competitive 100 metre dash, a title again secured by the Railway Union women.
Also in the Province, Leinster Women’s League 1 kicked off at the weekend, however results have proven extremely hard to come by as the Leinster website is only featuring men’s and school’s sections at present. My detective skills have established that Portarlington beat Rathdrum 12-0, Wexford Vixens drew 5-5 with NUIM Barnhall and the match between Cill Dara v Longford was not played. Portarlington leading the way then, but it is very early stages. Hopefully the results and tables will be easier to come by as the season progresses and the Leinster Rugby website includes the women’s leagues.
Sarah Lennon (@sarahlennon08) is passionate about all things rugby. A Leinster Season Ticket holder since the Donnybrook days, a supporter of the Irish teams home and abroad and can regularly be seen cheering on Junior Rugby at Stillorgan RFC (a labour of love). As well as spectating, she dabbles in playing a bit and is a member of Old Belvedere RFC and fully paid up member of the front row union.
