Fresh off the back of a dominant league season which saw them win the women’s NC3 league to gain promotion, the ladies of Northallerton RUFC returned for an encore performance, this time in the inaugural fixture of the North Yorkshire Ladies’ Cup. With this being a new fixture in an area still developing the women’s game, there were only three participating clubs, two of whom chose to join forces on the day to increase their squad size. So it was, that Northallerton took to the field in a straight final against a combined squad of Richmondshire Ravens and Guisborough Phoenixes, hosted at Richmondshire’s club ground.

Fielding a full squad of players on a glorious, sunny day, Northallerton were enthusiastic for the event and, as the game kicked off they wasted no time in getting to work. Hard carries from forwards mixed with evasive running lines from the backs gave the hosts a real problem from the off. Winger Amy Parker soon found herself diving over the whitewash to open the scoring for North. Hot on her heels was a try from Gina Fothergill with a trademark thundering run towards the posts that left a trail of would-be tacklers in her wake. Fly-half Ali O’Brien kicked the conversion, and then on the resumption of play she found herself with time on the ball enough to throw a ludicrous dummy and dart through the defence towards the line to score a try, for which she kicked the conversion.
The squad from Richmondshire and Guisborough contained a significant number of players who have taken up the game of rugby for the first time this season, and being a development squad for the most part, fought hard to make gains in the match where they could even as the scoreboard slipped away from them. Spurred on the by the sight of her two vice captains scoring, North’s captain and number 8 Abby Robinson was the next player to break through the host’s defensive line, scoring a try out wide. The onslaught of attack from the visitors was relentless and the home side barely had any chance to attack, although they defended valiantly by putting their bodies on the line. The work at the breakdown from the hosts caused North some problems at times throughout the first half, however as has often been the case this season, the ladies adapted well to this by moving to more of an offloading game that kept the ball alive. O’Brien found herself in the midfield with limited options on one attack and chose to chip the ball over the heads of the defence, running through to gather her own kick and race away to score her second try of the day in impressive fashion. On the resumption of play, North’s attacking play just kept rolling on. More and more players grew in confidence and engaged in the free-flowing spirit that the game seemed to have engendered. Centre Laura Isherwood found herself with the ball in space and threw a tremendous dummy pass to send the defence the wrong way and open up a space for herself to race through and score under the posts which gave O’Brien a simple conversion to kick. Soon after this, fellow centre Emily McCormack
ran through several tough tackles to get herself her customary score, a regular feature of many of North’s games. O’Brien on target once again with the conversion. As the first half drew to a close, it was captain Robinson who scored a vintage try, sending defenders flying as she muscled her way over the line, O’Brien again kicking the extras to take the game into the half time break with the score reading 0-50 in North’s favour.
Clearly the game had moved away from Richmondshire and Guisborough and they chose to make a few changes to the line up to offer as much game time as possible to the full squad of players who had made themselves available for the fixture. The tackling continued to be constant and determined from the hosts as the game resumed play, proving the spirit in them as they showed they were still up for the battle. The constant threat of a turnover at the breakdown meant that North chose to keep the ball alive by offloading rather than taking the ball to ground where possible. Tries from Amy Parker, Fothergill and O’Brien rolled in as North continued to press the attack across all parts of the pitch. As the half progressed, the tackling and efforts to get onto the ball quickly from the home side started to offer some reward and they enjoyed several spells of possession that slowed down the rate of scoring from North. Nevertheless, the entertaining brand of rugby that North had been playing all afternoon continued when they had the ball. The most impressive of the offloads for the day came late in the second half when several players executed some silky handling and direct passing to put SJ Pritchard in space and enabled her to get on the scoresheet. The last score of the match went to Anna Ridings. A similar build up involving multiple offloads, quick hands under pressure and accurate passing to keep the ball alive well. Kate Easton made a solid run deep into the opposition’s half before being brought down. Presenting the ball well allowed a quick recycle from scrum half Trinity Earnshaw who delivered it straight to Anna Ridings to fly through a gap and score at the close of the game. The match finished with a final score of Richmondshire and Guisborough 0 – Northallerton 75. A great display of entertaining rugby mixed with grit and desire from both sides.
The forward of the match was awarded to Kate Easton, back of the match to Trinity Earnshaw and player of the match was awarded to Ali O’Brien. A big thank you to Richmondshire Ravens and Guisborough Phoenix for playing the game in such good spirits, to Richmondshire Ravens for hosting the game and to the referee Ellie Bilton who officiated the game well. Congratulations to Northallerton Ladies, winners of the inaugural North Yorkshire Ladies cup to go with their NC3 League title and promotion to NC2 for next season. It has been a tremendous season to watch for all supporters of the team and the club wishes you all the best of luck for next season. This concludes the last of the competitive fixtures for Northallerton RUFC this season, however the summer touch rugby tournament will commence from the end of May through June on Friday evenings 7pm. All are welcome to attend and as always, please contact the club on social media for more information.