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Ipswich Scorpions 25 Colchester Iceni 10
Doug Boulton5 Dec 2023 - 12:26
Report by Steve Whiteman
At the wet and cold Ipswich ground on Sunday Colchester Iceni took on the hosts and league leaders in a combative game when all the women on view played their hearts out. Coach Graham Seal said after the match that this was “a tough loss in difficult conditions. The forwards held their own in the scrums and line outs but the Scorpions had the better of the loose play. The cold and wet ball made handling difficult for both sides but all credit to these women for producing a thrilling match.”
Iceni started well and within 10 minutes Chloe Mills dashed down the right and dotted down for Colchester’s first unconverted try. As it turned out because of the dreadful conditions none of this match’s tries were converted by either side.
Later Scorpions earned a penalty on the halfway line, the ball was fed to their inside centre who broke through the defence to score a try to level the score at 5-5. A similar feat was achieved shortly afterwards when the Iceni won a penalty on the halfway and moved the ball right into the hands of skipper Yas Amber who bludgeoned her way to the tryline to score the visitors’ second try.
Scorpions countered this setback by some ferocious battling by their forwards in the loose as the game progressed. They won the ball after some dogged battling in a maul, whipped it out to their second rower who was their coaches player of the match. She made several hard yards before releasing it to a back who scored in the corner. 10-10 with ten minutes to go until half time. But try as they could neither side could get ahead before the referee blew for the interval.
The second half had hardly begun when Scorpions’ fly half scooted through to score near the posts to the delight of the home crowd. Then, to add to their glee, Ipswich attacked down the right to score again to bring their lead to 20-10.
Both sides brought on replacements for injured players during the next 20 minutes with the hosts pressing hard for further scores but the Iceni stopping them with good tackling. At one point flanker Kat Richardson bravely tackled and stopped a Ipswich second row who was twice her size!
As the game drew to a close finally the Scorpions broke through the defence and, despite the tireless efforts of the Colchester women, grounded the ball to end the scoring 25-10 and the gallant girls all rushed into the changing rooms to get warm and recover from the cold and wet.
Iceni’s coaches awarded forward Tracy Seal the Under the Radar Award, Player of the Match to Kat Richardson for giving her all in whatever position she plays.
Iceni started well and within 10 minutes Chloe Mills dashed down the right and dotted down for Colchester’s first unconverted try. As it turned out because of the dreadful conditions none of this match’s tries were converted by either side.
Later Scorpions earned a penalty on the halfway line, the ball was fed to their inside centre who broke through the defence to score a try to level the score at 5-5. A similar feat was achieved shortly afterwards when the Iceni won a penalty on the halfway and moved the ball right into the hands of skipper Yas Amber who bludgeoned her way to the tryline to score the visitors’ second try.
Scorpions countered this setback by some ferocious battling by their forwards in the loose as the game progressed. They won the ball after some dogged battling in a maul, whipped it out to their second rower who was their coaches player of the match. She made several hard yards before releasing it to a back who scored in the corner. 10-10 with ten minutes to go until half time. But try as they could neither side could get ahead before the referee blew for the interval.
The second half had hardly begun when Scorpions’ fly half scooted through to score near the posts to the delight of the home crowd. Then, to add to their glee, Ipswich attacked down the right to score again to bring their lead to 20-10.
Both sides brought on replacements for injured players during the next 20 minutes with the hosts pressing hard for further scores but the Iceni stopping them with good tackling. At one point flanker Kat Richardson bravely tackled and stopped a Ipswich second row who was twice her size!
As the game drew to a close finally the Scorpions broke through the defence and, despite the tireless efforts of the Colchester women, grounded the ball to end the scoring 25-10 and the gallant girls all rushed into the changing rooms to get warm and recover from the cold and wet.
Iceni’s coaches awarded forward Tracy Seal the Under the Radar Award, Player of the Match to Kat Richardson for giving her all in whatever position she plays.
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