Sunday 3rd DecemberÂ
Ormskirk Ladies     60
Manchester WRUFC 0
Tries : E Gander (3), K Traynor (2), G Kendall (2), A O’Malley (2), K McDonnell
Conversions : J Gaskell (5)
With the return of prop Sarah Hutt and a four player input from Wigan WRUFC the Ladies were able to contest the scrums and put out a full XV for the first time in weeks. The irony was that this was not a league match but a friendly against Manchester of North 2, the Division above Ormskirk’s.
Manchester have not been having much success this season and they didn’t have much on Sunday. Once the Ormskirk pack showed that they had the measure of Manchester in the scrum and lineouts the visitors were in for a pounding. The front row. - Hutt, Gaskell and Kenny had outstanding games.
Hooker Lesley Kenny was at her bouncy castle best with defenders rebounding from her ample frame each time she went on a charge. Kenny, so often late for games, was probably trying to impress her Dad. Unbeknown to her, he slept in and only saw the last ten minutes of the match. That’s genetics for you.
Around the park lock Gail Kendall and Cath Nixon made their presence felt; Kendall with two long range tries and Nixon with five open field tackles. Such feats from 2nd rows rank in the probability tables along with snowmen in Death Valley and a roast pork luncheon at the Israeli embassy. And at the back of the scrum was the glowering figure of No 8 Emma Gander. Off the field she is a love bunny, but put a rugby shirt on her and she metamorphoses into Doombringer, nemesis in shorts. In defence she was awesome, in attack irresistible, and her hat trick, was inevitable.
The pack having laid the foundations, Kate Traynor, fly half an Girl of the Game, was able to orchestrate the backs. Considering the conditions the handling was exemplary and, abetted by swift support from Gander and scrum half Anna O’Malley, the backs led the Manchester girls a merry dance. Winger Kayleigh McDonnell chipped in with a try, O’Malley added two more … the last a fine break from the base of the scrum after Kenny had once again taken a Manchester put-in… and Traynor iced her personal cake with a pair of tries.
Slightly built, she plays with a jittery energy that the casual observer might miscontrue as panic … or possibly not, depending on how close the opposition back row get to her. However, in this match, she bossed teh match from outside half and engineered the breaks that led to both her tries.
Prop Jane Gaskell, remarkably given the howling gale, kicked five conversions.
Report by Sam Botfield
