The Edinburgh University Women’s 1XV were defeated by a strong Exeter side at Peffermill on Wednesday, November 1st. There were just two points separating the sides before this match in the BUCS Women’s National League.
Several other matches had been cancelled at Peffermill before the 15:00 kickoff time, with the harsh conditions not favourable for Edinburgh’s typical attacking rugby. An early Exeter try did not dampen the home side’s spirits, though, as they dominated the set-piece early on. However, a knock-on was pounced upon by one of Exeter’s backline. Having hacked the ball up the pitch, the visitors won a turnover penalty before crashing over for their second try of the afternoon.
Going into a ten-point lead after twenty minutes was the perfect start for the away side, but the hosts would show their quality in their first score of the match. Natasha Logan broke Exeter’s defensive line and looked inside her to find captain Rhea Clarke, who dotted down underneath the posts. The conversion was successful from inside centre Lucy Macrae, and Edinburgh were back in the game.
For all the hosts’ impressive flair in attack, the travelling side from Devon would land two sucker punch blows in a matter of minutes. After several phases within Edinburgh’s 22, space was created out wide for the away team’s full back to score in the corner. The score line would swing even further in the visitors favour when a loose kick from Edinburgh was caught by Exeter’s winger, who ran half of the pitch to score a brilliant try. There would be one final try from the ladies in green and white, and they would head down the tunnel at halftime with a 7-29 lead.
The second half would start in a similar vein to the first, with Exeter starting where they left off and scoring another 7 points. Yet, a flurry of quality tries from the home side meant that they were within touching distance of a losing bonus point heading into the final quarter of the game. Wingers Cieron Bell and Hannah Walker both went over, before outside centre Nicole Flynn scored a try of her own. Partnered with a couple of conversions from Macrae, and Edinburgh found themselves just ten points behind with twenty minutes to go.
The next big moment would belong to the side from Devon, though, as they scored a try of their own, which meant that Edinburgh’s final attacking success was little more than a consolation score. The final score would read 29-41 for Exeter.
Claire Cruikshank, Head of Performance Ladies’ Rugby at Edinburgh, thought that “we put Exeter under real pressure, scoring some great tries to get a try bonus point, but we’re disappointed to not take more from the game.”
Her now side travels down to Loughborough for a challenging fixture, but Cruikshank is optimistic, as she said: “There are no easy games in the BUCS WNL, and that’s what makes this league exciting.”
“Rugby balls ISL_Hr91nn_I0001-1206.jpg” by Dhammika Heenpella / CWSSIP Images of Sri Lanka is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.