Hove Women XV vs. Saracens Ladies II

What a weekend. With the Hove men winning on Saturday you may have felt that the pressure that was on the women's team to also secure the win might have been much. However the team were calm and collected on the way to Allianz Park, there was also an air of expectation, a 'maybe this will be our year'.

The team carried this through on to the pitch, right from Kick Off Hove applied the pressure. They were camped in the opposition half for what seemed like an eternity, with the Saracen's defence holding firm. Whenever Sarries pushed back, Hove would storm at them again. Sarries did their usual utmost to disrupt the scrums, rucks and mauls, but Hove simply clicked and they read every situation and nullified the Saracen's attempts.

Eventually Hove did break a resilient Sarries defence and new girl Juliette went over for the try. The home fans were in disbelief, but with the pressure Hove were applying it was only a matter of time.

Hove's next points came from a penalty, which Temps slotted home. This riled Saracen's up and with a big effort and lucky break they beat the Hove defence for a try. Whilst the Sarries players were still celebrating Hove went on the attack again and Blondes went over for another try. With no conversions from any of the tries, the first half ended with Hove leading 5-13.

The second half began much like the first with Hove applying pressure from the off, an absolutely beautiful passage of play resulted in no try, however the girls were still on fire and with some on point passes and Juliette scored from the reset.
Next up to score was another newbie, Sam ran practically the length of pitch to score in the corner, still no conversions but great hands, great belief and great tries from a very inform Hove side.

Saracen's were as well drilled and as feisty as always but the Hove players were on a roll in attack as well as defence. This was turning out to be an epic game with both teams playing some exceptional rugby. Within 10 mins of Sam's try, Beth added to the try count with yet another from a well executed play.

After another 5 mins of hard fought action it was Sarrie's that gained the upper hand and delivered a score.

This was an excellent match with both teams playing some very good rugby, the difference between the sides was the passion, belief and trust that the Hove girls had in themselves and each other, they took nothing for granted and fought hard for the whole 80mins. If they can produce even half as good performance at home on Sunday against Wasps then we are in for a real treat. A perfect start to the season, final score Saracen's 10, Hove 28. Well played girls.