Fleetwood 27
Ormskirk 33
(J Leitch 3T, 4C, A O’Malley 2T)
At the tail end of last season the Ladies were trounced 74 - 0 at home by a Fleetwood side who were marching to yet another League Championship. So when, after just 2 minutes, the Fleetwood pack set up a driving maul and bulldozed their way over the Ladies’ line you might have been forgiven for thinking ‘Oo’er… here we go again’.
Not a bit of it. Within 5 minutes the Ladies were ahead; fly half Jenny Leitch taking advantage of some poor handling in the Fleetwood backs to score from half way. Soon after, again striking from deep, centre Anna O’Malley benefited from a break by wing Rachael Cowan to run in another converted try.
Having tweaked the tigresses’ tail the Ladies now had to face up to the consequences - a right mauling. But face up they did and knocked down everything Fleetwood threw at then until Julia Clapp … probably the best scrum half in the North of England… wriggled over from a 5m penalty.
The pattern was set for the game. Fleetwood battered away and the Ladies clung on by their fingernails waiting for the chance to break. A scrum on the half way saw a No 8 Emma Gander pick up and sweetly put Leitch in the clear for another converted try. 21 - 10 down Fleetwood powered forward again and reduced the arrears to six points. It was tit for tat. O’Malley made it 26 - 15. Fleetwood responded. 26 - 22. Leitch notched her hat trick try and her fourth conversion. 33 - 22.
And then, 10 minutes from the end, Clapp, all grace and sinew, scythed through the Ormskirk centres to set up the nailbiting finale. But the Ladies, heroines all, clung on for a famous victory.
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