Bristol Ladies returned to winning ways with a comprehensive victory over Aylesford Bulls on Sunday. Having watched their team mate Izzy Noel Smith score the winning try in England’s victory over Ireland yesterday, there was a buzz about the Bristol camp as they prepared for their game.
Playing at Trowbridge RFC due to a water logged pitch at The Portway, the girls were looking to work on their solid performance against Richmond the week before, to return to winning ways.
From kick off the girls were inspired, with the first half seeing a series of well worked tries showing some great interplay between the backs and forwards. Philippa Tuttiett got the scoreboard moving on 4 minutes, shortly followed by some brilliant handling by Bryony Cleall – putting Olivia Jones over the try line. Jones got her second of the afternoon shortly after. Taking the score 17 – 0.
A team infringement saw Bristol down to 14 players for 10 minutes, with Aylesford successfully slotting home the penalty kick. However, as soon as Bristol were back up to their full complement of players, Tuttiett added a second try to her tally.
Later in the half Amelia Buckland Hurry broke through the Aylesford defence, showing great strength with a huge hand off the final Bulls defender. She fed the ball out wide to Jones, who secured her hattrick and the five try bonus point for the home side.
Elinor Snowsill added her name to the score sheet as the whistle blew for half time.
Half time score: Bristol Ladies 38 (6 tries, 4 conv) – 3 Aylesford Bulls (pen)
The second half saw Bristol continue to dominate, Snowsill scoring first, followed by Beth Dainton who was on the receiving end of some great interplay between Clara Neilson and Kate Newton.
Bristol went for a full front row change on 45 minutes, which was quickly followed by Snowsill getting her hattrick try.
Dainton, not wanting to be left out, added her second and third in quick succession – showing her speed as she darted the length of the pitch on both occasions.
Substitute Courtney Bishop ended the game with a final try – dotting it down under the posts taking the final score to 78 – 3.
With both Saracens and Richmond winning at Lichfield and Worcester, Bristol Ladies are back up to third in the table – ready for our away fixture at Wasps next week.
Final score: Bristol Ladies 78 (12 tries, 9 conv) – 3 (pen) Aylesford Bulls
Forward of the game: Caryl Thomas
Back of the game: Elinor Snowsill (pictured above by Rikki Teml)
Voted for by the players
After the game Captain Amelia Buckland Hurry said: ‘We had a great game today, and it was great to see us keep the momentum going from the 1st half right to the end of the 2nd half – and it’s was brilliant to get the win after our last few games. Our positive attitude really shone through today – we knew we’d have to work hard, and if we did we could achieve the result we wanted. We’ve upped the intensity of training over the last few weeks, and really regained our focus as a club. It’s been great having the opportunity to be captain, but I am also looking forward to having our internationals back over the next few weeks!’
Game Score Stats
4m – TRY Bristol – Philippa Tuttiett, 5 – 0
6m – TRY Bristol – Olivia Jones, 10 – 0
13m – TRY Bristol – Olivia Jones, 15 – 0
14m – CONV Bristol – Elinor Snowsill, 17 – 0
17m – YELLOW Bristol – Kate Newton
17m – PENALTY Aylesford, 17 – 3
28m – TRY Bristol, Philippa Tuttiett, 22 – 3
28m – CONV Bristol, Snowsill, 24 – 3
33m – TRY Bristol – Olivia Jones, 29 – 3
33m – CONV Bristol – Snowsill, 31 – 3
39m – TRY Bristol – Elinor Snowsill, 36 – 3
39m- CONV Bristol – Snowsill, 38 – 3
HALF TIME
42m – TRY Bristol – Snowsill, 43 – 3
44m – CONV Bristol – Snowsill, 45 – 3
56m – TRY Bristol – Dainton, 50 – 3
56m – CONV Bristol – Snowsill, 52 – 3
68m – TRY Bristol – Snowsill, 57 – 3
68m – CONV Bristol – Snowsill, 59 – 3
74m – TRY Bristol – Dainton, 64 – 3
74m – CONV Bristol – Snowsill, 66 – 3
76m –TRY Bristol – Dainton, 71 – 3
79m – TRY Bristol – Bishop, 76 – 3
79m – CONV Bristol – Cleall, 78 – 3
Team Sheet
Bristol: 1 Caryl Thomas 2 Clara Nielson 3 Abbie Parsons 4 Amelia Buckland-Hurry 5 Kate Newton 6. Daisy Travers 7 Poppy Lietch 8. Sue Neumann 9 Sian Moore 10 Elinor Snowsill 11 Beth Dainton 12 Bryony Cleall 13. Philippa Tuttiett 14 Olivia Jones 15 Sydney Gregson
16 Kathryn Buggy (for Thomas, 45m) 17 Kayleigh Armstrong (for Nielson, 45m) 18 Naomi Smith (for Newton, 66m) 19 Courtney Bishop (for Jones, 47m) 20 Becki Belcher (for Parsons, 45m) 21 Izzy Moore (for Travers, 69m) 22 Sophie Cleverly (for Dainton, 75m)
Aylesbury Bulls: TBC
Next fixtures
Sunday 22nd November – 1st XV vs Wasps – AWAY – KO 2pm – Twyford Avenue, Acton, Middlesex, W3 9QA
Match Report from Emma Bacon Bristol Ladies
