Southport Rugby Club Ladies celebrate hard-fought win over Halifax as title charge continues

Southport Rugby Club Ladies crossed the counties on Sunday and travelled to Halifax in the hope of further securing the league title. 

The game got underway with Halifax kicking and immediately they showed their speed at the breakdown by forcing the penalty against Southport for holding on, and kicking to touch. From the subsequent line out Halifax strung together their phases of play and put the pressure on Port but a strong defensive line held them at bay for a considerable length of time. After some switches in play and neither team able to penetrate the other half effectively, a nice offload to flanker Lane allowed her to make a storming break from halfway into the Halifax 22 and give the Halifax supporters something to worry about, at the same time drawing a penalty from the Halifax player for not releasing. A nice kick to touch by fly half McKeown and Port had the lineout. Port made their way up to the 22 but a knock on saw a scrum awarded to Halifax. With Halifax pinned down the fly half made the clearance kick and winger Kipling scooped up the ball and made a darting run down the wing. Eventually brought down by her opposite number the ball made its way out to flanker Welsh. Having already been warned for repeated infringements, Port found themselves down to 14 when Welsh was deemed to be holding on and was shown a yellow card. An injury to a Halifax player caused a lengthy break in play but with a scrum to Port to restart, the game got back underway. For a time, Halifax were dominating the scrums and after a steal at the latest scrum, Halifax were pressing hard. With the clearance kick made, winger Jessop, who showed huge confidence this game, took the ball cleanly and made a marauding run from the halfway putting Port back in the driving seat. Just 5 metres out and with the try looking likely, Port were penalised for holding on and Halifax were, again, in control. They rumbled up the pitch and too many missed tackles by Port allowed them to break the deadlock and crash over for the first try of the game. Half time score 5-0.

Port got the second half underway and when Halifax knocked the ball on, Port had the opportunity to show their quality and piece together some good play to rumble up the pitch. Halifax were struggling to contain Port and when Captain Walton picked the ball out of the ruck it looked a dead cert that she had powered her way over the line to level the score, however, the referee called the ball held up and the try not given. In Ports favour, play was taken back to the 5 metre line after an earlier infringement by Halifax and Port reset again. A great pick and drive by Welsh, back on after her 10 minute ‘rest’, gained ground and on hand was scrum half Rouffignac who sniped her way through and dotted down for Ports first try. With the conversion just short, the score was level at 5-5.

From the restart Port where on the attack and finding their rhythm but when Halifax stole the ball Port found themselves on the back foot and Halifax rumbled their way up the pitch deep into the Port half. Just when it looked like Halifax might take the lead, the absolute Queen of the Rip Rouffignac struck and saved the day with an impeccable rip and run to clear the danger. Again, McKeown made a good clearance and Port were in the clear. From the Halifax lineout inside the Port half, Halifax again made their way into the danger area and after a high tackle by a Port player 10 metres out in front of the posts, Halifax did the only sensible thing and kicked for goal taking the score to 8-5.

A superb high and deep restart by McKeown put pressure on Halifax and drew the knock on resulting in a scrum to Port deep in the Halifax half. With substitute 2nd row Plunkett adding strength to the pack, Port were starting to hold their own in the scrums and when Griffiths picked from the base and popped the ball to scrum half Rouffignac, she ran in her second try of the game and put Port back in the lead. With the conversion just wide and 10 minutes left on the clock, Port were in front 8-10.

Spurred on, Port were playing hard and making good ground and a little ‘show and go’ by replacement hooker Morris had the Halifax defence scrambling. After another try was held up by Halifax, the goal line drop out found winger McArdle. She linked up well with fellow winger Jessop who made a storming run and offloaded to McKeown who, again, was deemed to have been held up and another goal line drop out followed. A deep kick from Halifax found full back Kerr, who was excellent under the high ball all day, and she made a good break down the wing. With Kerr tackled into touch, the full time whistle blew and Southport had narrowly scraped a win over an extremely physical and well drilled Halifax side.

Southport Ladies next game is at home to Chester Ladies on Sunday 19th February.

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