After a warm up in the pouring rain and driving wind, the ladies knew it was going to be a tough fixture. There was standing water on the pitch and the direction of travel meant that they were into the wind for the entire first half. Despite this, they brought great pressure onto Old Emanuels from kick off, pinning them into their 22. The home side struggled to exit and eventually a tap and go penalty saw Paige Abbs go storming over the try line, which was converted by Coco Briden.

Streatham then entered a period of extensive defence, unable to themselves exit due to the wind. With a change in the usual back line, with scrum half Rosie Carr playing a strong distribution role at 10, normal fly half Millie Ross struggled to get the ball away from the centres channel due to strong pressure and linespeed from the Old Emanuels 12. However, eventually putting a tactical grubber kick which was chased expertly by winger and skipper Samar Mandour pushed OEs away to the halfway.

Streatham managed to keep the game moving along, despite the horrific conditions. Centre Holly Dawson consistently threatened the Old Emanuels back line, holding onto some challenging balls, and running clever dummy lines to allow the ball to be spread wide. Eventually multiple forward phases, with great pick and go carries from Molly Boden and Laura Pinn, drew in the defence sufficiently that there was acres of space for the ball to go through the hands to full back Rain Robinson who finished well in the corner.

Old Emanuels were intent on using the wind in their favour and towards the end of the first half had managed to wear down the Streatham defence sufficiently to pick off the back of a ruck close to the line and dive over the tangle of bodies to ground the ball for their only try of the game.

Streatham were comfortably on top in the second half, with the scrum led by Emma Rastal and powered in the engine room by Pru Gardiner and Anna Fogel dominating. The support of the wind behind them allowed them to consistently gain territory and they scored two well worked second half tries, the first in a power move by lock Anna Fogel, the second seeing Rosie Carr returning to her natural position of scrum half and sniping on a mazing run to score under the posts. Full time score 24-5.

Next week we return to the league with an away fixture vs Canterbury (rearranged from Jan 5th).

Forward of the match: Laura Pinn
Back of the match: Holly Dawson
Scorers: Paige Abbs (1T), Rain Robinson (1T), Anna Fogel (1T), Rosie Carr (1T), Coco Briden (2C)