Tabard Ladies 32- 12 H&D Owls

The Owls made the trip up the M25 to a Tabard team sporting international class in the centres and were outdone in the first half.
From the start it was evident that Tabard would dictate the play the play through their experienced 10 and 12. This was evidenced with the first try of the game coming from a neat chip into the corner by Tabard's fly half for them to dot down.

The Owls came out after this with some huge hits from Mimi Montgomery to try and disrupt Tabard's phase play. However, thanks to the strong running of Tabard's Ex-Ireland centre, they managed to puncture the Harwich defence leading to another try.

Harwich did make some headway with our inside centre Kim Hutchins cutting a fantastic arking line to round the Tabard defence and run in a try from the half way line. Unfortunately Hutchins didn't manage to make the conversion.

The Harwich set piece was in sublime form, causing the Tabard pack all kinds of problems in the scrum and disrupting their line out at every given opportunity.

Disorganisation in the loose was the Owls downfall with the rest of the half played much the same as the first 15 minutes. Tabard used their 10 and 12 to make good yards and breach the Harwich defence running in 3 more tries before the half time whistle.

After some self reflection at half time and a couple of changes Harwich came out looking like a different team! The big hits kept coming from Mimi Montgomery but now the other girls were putting them in too! Some excellent work at the breakdown from Bear Haywood and Lauren Richardson saw Harwich turn over some important ball and disrupt Tabard's distribution game.

Hawich's tails we're up now and this was evidenced by the continued strong scrummaging, driving Tabard back on multiple occasions. Not a single member of the pack can be faulted for their dedication to dominating the Tabard pack in the set piece.

All this hard work seemed to be undone when Tabard again rolled over for another try but credit to our girls, they kept going. Brilliant running from Di Wood, Mimi Montgomery, Nicola Kington and Lauren Richardson saw the Owls punch holes in the Tabard defence.

A brief moment of indiscipline saw Number 8 Mimi Montgomery receive a yellow card for retaliation following a brief exchange in the ruck with one of Tabard’s players and both teams were down to 14. This didn't stop Harwich from playing the game our way though. With more excellent work in the tight, setting up a brilliant run from Fullback Yas Amber, breaking through numerous tackles, to sprint away from the chasing Tabard backs from our 10 meter. Yas Amber reluctantly took the conversion kick and slotted it with a school yard toe punt.

The final score was 32-12 to Tabard but there were a lot of positives to be taken from the second half. As a team and rugby players the girls grew in this game and I'm positive the return fixture will be a different matter entirely.

Forward of the Match was awarded to new second row Lauren Richardson for her impact off the bench. Back of the Match was Elizabeth Flatt for her excellent work and distribution at the breakdown.

This was the Owls first league defeat since early September 2015, after going 13 league fixtures unbeaten. The Owls will look to bounce back on Sunday 2nd October when they entertain East London Ladies at H&D.