RUGBY UNION: OLD Leamingtonians retained their place at the top of the Women’s NC Midlands One league after recording a comfortable 43-5 victory over Rugby Lionesses on Sunday.
OLs found an early breakthrough with Kyra Gleeson crossing over the line just four minutes after the kick-off and they went on to allow the visitors very little space to get into their game, winning a number of turnover balls and keeping the opposition on the defense.
The hosts capitalised on gaps in the Lionesses’ defense with centre Philippa Rawbone breaking the line twice in a matter of minutes to score two more tries for the home side.
OLs put three more tries past the visiting side in the first half with fly half Jamielee McCreadie twice crossing the try line and hooker Carrie Steadman scored in the final minutes.
All three tries were successfully converted by captain Jen Vermeulen to give OLs a commanding 36-0 victory.
The Lionesses came back onto the pitch for the second half with a point to prove, and made the game much harder for the home team.
Full back Alex Dixon scored the first try of the half, but after that Lionesses succeeded in retaining more possession and kept the game in their opponents half.
Their repeated attacks on the OLs defensive line were rewarded with a try and despite pushing play back well into Lionesses’ half and winning a number of strong scrums, OLs failed to get a final try on the board.
