Rowers Women 44 – Ridge Meadows 10

The Rowers finished off the half with a big win against Ridge Meadows at Home this weekend.

The game started off with a huge hit by Joscelyn Wallace that set the tone of the game, and the hits just kept on coming. The Rowers ladies hit hard and ran harder, releasing Robynne Shannon within the first four minutes to score the opening try. Racing along the outside, Shannon took advantage of the overlap and immediately got the Rowers ladies into the scoring spirit.

With the weather seeming to stall just for the game, it quickly became a game for the backs to shine and show off all their hard work this season, getting balls out wide and creating great scoring opportunities after the forwards’ pattern sucked in the defence.

With the forwards working hard, another opportunity came to the backs nine minutes in, with half-back Shannon and captain Samantha Quigao setting up a beautiful ball to 17-year-old Chloe Vogrig. With lots of adrenaline and power Chloe took the gap, dodged a defender, and scored her first ever rugby try, proving she is not only fast but very strong.

Ridge Meadows did well in the set piece causing troubles for the Rowers ladies, but Sarah Hayes used her experience and power in the front row to create tactical opportunities within the scrum and give the Rowers a chance to fight back, resulting in a few steals.

Kerianne Magee also scored her first try for the Rowers 13 minutes into play. After making great offloads and intelligent lines, she showed everyone she was not to be messed with. She took the ball, powering through two defenders, touching the ball behind the line through a massive double tackle.

The backs were on fire along with the autumn leaves this half as Shannon had another successful attempt at the goal line. With 15 minutes to go in the first half, she pumped left and then slipped into the gap she created to score her second try of the game.

As the game went on so did the points. Next try was scored by Wallace who took advantage of a missed penalty kick and created her own gap by obliterating the defender in front of her at the 22-meter line and then running in to score the try. The score now sits 27-0 at the half.

The second half started off with Ridge Meadows requesting to play 10s due to injury and two rowers girls having to leave the game of play to accommodate. This change actually benefited Ridge as the Rowers, now accustomed to 12s and 15s,  had to adjust. While Rowers adjusted their pattern, they left the defense loaded up on the wrong side of a ruck allowing Ridge to scored their first try four minutes into the second half along the wing.

That victory did not last long as the Rowers got back into the swing of things and battled hard. A great tactical play from scrum-half Mhairianne Ritchie McKeeve off the back of the scrum resulted in a wonderful team try between her and winger Magee off of the blind side, with Ritchie-McKeeve looping around and receiving the offload running into touch to score her first try of the season.

But Mhairianne wasn’t done setting up tries yet. The rowers battled forward once again. With pick and go after pick and go they had worked their way into the opposing teams 10-meter zone. With Ridge Meadows lined up across the try line, the rower’s girls were ravenous all calling her name, ready to score. She went with her gut and hit Wallace blind on the right. Wallace hungry for the ball powered though the two defenders and scored her second try of the game.

Ridge meadows wasn’t done as they valiantly fought back putting the rowers defence under pressure. With rowers on the line defending pick and go after pick and go they snuck in a try 49 minutes in just within bounds for an additional 5 points.

As the game went on so did the amount of set pieces, with the weather picking up more drop balls and knock ons occurred and it became a very set piece heavy game. With some inexperience in the front row the Rowers had to battle hard again and again. But this did not deter our girls, as the play continued to ruck and roll down the field Ashley Osachuk saw her gap, she raced from 30 meters out towards the corner flag and scored the final try of the game 54 minutes in.

This weekend marked the first win for the Rowers. It was a great opportunity to tie in everything coach Luke Robson has been trying get the ladies to do. For the newer girls, the game has finally clicked. The women, no doubt, are keen to take their hard work thus far into the next half. Well done, ladies!

Join us next week at Brockton Oval as we play an exhibition game against Simon Fraser University.