Roses women’s rugby: York 7-60 Lancaster

York's Amy Leech and Lancaster's Alex Simpson

The women’s rugby team were thoroughly outclassed by their counterparts, but in truth it was largely down to the exploits of Lancaster’s centre Alex Simpson, who scored seven of their ten tries.

Injured fly half Lucy Davies told Vision before the game that “man for man, York are more skilful overall, but Lancaster are more aggressive. If we can keep the high intensity and belief, we should win.”

Her prediction was wide of the mark, but York undeniably played with incredible heart. They succumbed to a stunning individual performance by Alex Simpson, the Lancaster centre who was head and shoulders above everyone on the pitch.

If she got the ball, she invariably scored, and that was demonstrated as early as the 7th minute, when she picked the ball up from the turnover, went round the outside of the flailing York defence to touch down in the corner.

That score was unconverted, but her next two tries in quick succession were both underneath the posts. Both times Simpson beat a couple of opponents, her pace and trickery just bamboozling York. The Lancaster scrum half converted both to make the score 19-0 as the first half wore on.

York then came back into the game slightly, breaking up more attacks. They had no real attacking impetus of their own with the exception of Katie Kamp, who tried her best to drive at the Lancaster defence.

Simpson however scored another try, this time intercepting the York back line as they tried to build an attack. That was converted, and straight from the restart, she collected the ball and ran through the entire York team to score yet again. With the score at 33-0, the York contingent could not believe their eyes.

The ball did not really make it into York’s 22 the entire half, and York went into the break having conceded another try, as the Lancaster prop drove over in the corner. It was unconverted, making it 38-0 to the white rose at the interval.

5 mins into the second half, there was a massive delay due to a neck injury to a Lancaster player. A helicopter came but in the end was not used, an ambulance taking her to hospital. Lancaster then scored another unconverted try on the wing, through who else but Simpson again.

York then had a spell of possession in the opposition 22, a clever little tap and go from captain and scrum half Emma Nugent. However, Lancaster’s number 7 intercepted and ran the length of the pitch to score, making it 48-0.

Lancaster scored two more tries, one via Simpson, to make it 60-0. Yet there was some valiant last ditch pressure from York in search of consolation try, and they finally found it through Emma Nugent, driving home from the scrum. It was converted, prompting wild York celebrations, to make the final score 7-60.

It was a whitewash but Davies commented that the score line did not reflect the performance, and the heart York showed was evident from start to finish against one match-winning player.

Emma Nugent said after that “the majority of us are third years and it is really good to be part of UYWRC at our last Roses. We tried our hardest despite the score line. We play as a team not as an individual.”

26 thoughts on “Roses women’s rugby: York 7-60 Lancaster

  1. That’s Ang ball (and Megan Nash behind her) in the photo, not Amy Leech!!!

    I LOVE YOU UYWRUFC!!!!

  2. “We play as a team not as an individual”

    Sour grapes. Shows the lack of sportsmanship is a fairly common York trait. Lancaster play as a team and when you have such a talent then it’s the responsibility of the TEAM to best use it. In other words give the ball to that player and let them run rings round you!

  3. To say that it was an individual performance is unreasonable. Lancaster dominated rucks and scrums, turned over lineouts and their defence held out untill 1 minute before full time. If York were as good as they said they were then surely one individual couldn’t have been a problem for them getting points on the board? Last time i checkde you needed 15 people on a team, seems to me all of Lancasters turned out, but can York say the same?

  4. I think you will find it was Lancaster who showed no sportsmanship towards York who played a clean game throughout. The lancaster team and supporters hurled abuse at the york side even when their own player was seriously injured and taken away in an air ambulance, which the york girls supported and checked to see if she was ok. If you had watched the game and understood rugby,you will have found that they had an incredible player that ran rings around york and her own team. When they failed to get the ball to her, york dominated over the rest of their players in the scrums and rucks showing more skill. If you had seen the girls at the end of the game despite a heavy loss they were happy with their play at roses and celebrating winning the league a first for york women’s rugby.

  5. awkward i have no idea what game you were watching?

  6. To be fair, at the end of the day both teams played exceptionally well and York are definatley not disappointed with how they played. The result does not reflect the skill that we have, thats just what it happened to be at the end of the day. UYWRUFC are LEAGUE CHAMPIONS…. Lancaster came 3rd in their League… at the end of the day, Roses is just Roses which will happen every year for a very long time but being a League champion is one that is earned through some serious hard work and York did that this year.

  7. Ultimately, I think what York took from the game was the fact that, despite all the points on the board, Lancaster smells really bad.

  8. I completely agree with ‘Awkward’ and ‘Roses Winner’. I think it is extremely sad that in the past two years York have never congratulated Lancaster for their success but instead seem bitter and hurl insults. It is true that Simpson is an exceptional player, however her team mates successfully got that ball to her, and held the defensive line so that York could not break through. Also I think it is important to point out that even if Simpson had not been on the pitch the three tries from other exceptional players would have gained Lancaster a win. One of the members of York rugby team joined the Lancaster Rugby team in their celebrations last night with no sour grapes, only happy to have had a good game, I think this is the attitude to have. Lancaster’s Women’s Rugby members pride themselves on their clean play and sportsmanship, they have not said a bad word about the York players but instead praised the fact they didn’t give up. If only York Women’s Rugby Team could just enjoy the game and not insult Lancaster’s team after a thoroughly enjoyable game…

  9. I really enjoyed playing even though we lost. It was the last game for many of our players including our captain so it was rather emotional! Lancaster were a good team with a particularly fast 13 and I don’t think we can deny that! We put up a fight and we feel like we put in all our efforts. We have already had success in our league this year and so this was an extra. But I think it is very unfair to say we are unsporting and that it is a ‘York trait’ to be so. If we were, we would not have been concerned for your player who hurt her neck or even said well played at the end. In fact, I have been left with a sour taste in my mouth for you to say that. What a assumption to have. ‘York trait’…. I think you should think a bit more carefully and maybe be more sporting yourself before making that ridiculous statement.

  10. While I can’t agree that Lancaster ‘dominated’ rucks and lineouts as York often secured the ball and turned it over, Lancaster did play well. I think one little comment at the end of a heated match is being blown out of proportion. 13, fair play, she is great but all their girls played with heart. As did ours. This match report is not written by the York team and so its stance should not be taken as our own. Reading it back, only the ‘team and not as an individual’ comment is actually in any way bitter and that was simply the result of frustration caused by playing such a heated aggressive game. All in all I think it was an excellent game and I totally enjoyed it. Lancaster seem like genuinely lovely people. Sportsmanship was evident on both sides right until the end with cheers, songs and handshaking. I look forward to playing Lancaster again next year.

  11. I don’t think we are actually hurling insults, or have you not read the posts clearly? In my comment I said nothing against Lancaster only that we were League champions but not that they played badly because they didn’t. We aren’t bitter and angry that Lancaster won, its just another Roses tournament and there is a general rivalry between York and Lancaster or did you not understand that?
    And its difficult to truly understand what went on from a spectators point of view, to really know what was going on and who was actually dominating the rucks and the scrums you would have had to been on the pitch.
    And saying that Lancaster was a ‘one man team’ is not being bitter and insulting, its only making a judgement on the other team and I am sure Lancaster will make a fair few comments on how we played too.

  12. Actually I was on the pitch….and I thought York played with real heart as we did we. Lancaster understands Banter very well, but saying we are a one-woman team is not really banter. As said some members of York were lovely and played with skill and sportsmanship, its just a shame after the match some people have to make such comments.

  13. Like I said, heat of the moment. Let’s please move on. Well done Lancaster. See you all next year!

  14. Lancaster did not dominate the rucks, lineouts or scrums. If you had, it wouldn’t have been just one player scoring your points. A moment in the second half Lancaster had a good few scrums inside the York 22, but failed to get a point. After the territory and possesion, York managed to turn it over and get back in to the Lancaster half. It was only thanks to great reading of the game that an interception try came. If you look at the possession and territory Lancaster had, they should have scored a lot more points! And I mean a lot. The tries came from York giving away a penalty (bad discipline, deserves to have a try scored against them) resulting in 13 scoring from half way, silly handling errors from York and the 13 breaking the gain line from inside her own half. All tries came from very little phases. Lancaster did very well playing on York’s mistakes, something York didn’t do as efficiently. But for all the territory Lancaster had, how didn’t they score more tries that were built up from phases? Just shows York held out very well. They turned Lancaster over a good few times in their own half, they stole lineout ball as well. I stick by what I said in the article, the scoreline does not reflect the game. When Lancaster couldn’t get the ball out to 13, they didn’t gain much ground.

    Both teams should be incredibly proud of the match. It was entertaining to watch, even from a York perspective who was in a massive sulk for not being able to play. York showed great determination and didn’t let their heads down even when 13 was running rings around us! And the interception try from the flanker, amazing! All in all , that’s it for this year. Provided an entertaining game!

  15. ‘york who played a cleaned game throughout’ – York wouldn’t know a clean game if it
    Stood up and scored a try for them!

  16. While our 13 is a great player I feel she was serverly lacking in both the scrum and line outs! her performance in the domination of the b team sevens was poor to say the least!
    Weird to say we are a ‘one woman team’.

  17. There was undoubtedly determination and good play on both sides. In light of some of the comments above, interesting to note that the lancaster 7s B team in which Simpson didn’t play won 32-0.

  18. Always interested in ways to improve- how weren’t we playing clean exactly?

  19. i think the lancaster players need to stop being petty now with their comments and just leave it, as its just getting pathetic.

  20. Why did you start bitching on the article anyway? we didn’t write it!
    Bitch on the newspaper (sorry vision) not the players.
    Don’t know if clem gave the message but lancaster 9 wanted to thankyou for the banter, i chat shit on the pitch but i always like to shake hands after but with my broken leg i couldn’t. Also to the girl who tackled me then offered to help me up after you are far too sweet to be playing rugby! Thankyou for the game, i really enjoyed it even though i am writing this in plaster (6 years of rugby and this is my first broken bone).
    Honestly did we not play clean? one thing i like to always be able to say is if we loose we loose with a smile and fairly. thats the spirit of the UYWRUFC family :D

  21. Nicely put Broken. As a member of Lancaster women’s rugby I thought it was a very enjoyable game and that you showed great sportsmanship and determination. I’m sure we are all just thinking Bring On Next Year for another epic battle! And to nobody cares after the amount of time and effort both sides put into training, we certainly do care, we play because we LOVE RUGBY!

  22. Broken 7- hope you’re leg is okay and that you’ll be back to playing rugby soon!
    Well done to everyone for an amazing game, I’m a third year too and emotions really do run high! There’s always going to be banter- it’s all part of the fun but I think there is underlying respect from each team. It’s a hard game and everyone that plays puts there all into it. Although it was funny when your prop said we wouldn’t be chanting when you won the line out then we won it!
    Hope you have success next season too and I look forward to watching from the sidelines next year!

  23. York will always and forever be our biggest rivals and therefore present us with the most difficult game of our season. I think both teams played from the heart and with epic team spirit, banter after the match is always anticipated given both teams push it as hard as they can for this match! Sterling effort on both parts, just remember girls pinching and studs in the rucks aren’t what the game is about! bring on the competition next year, I look forward to watching from the sideline and not waking up aching everywhere the day after, except the head maybe!

    Brilliant way to end three years with LUWRUFC, thanks again York, bring the same fight and determination next year :)

  24. I think we can all agree that neither LUWRUFC or UYWRUFC agree with the wording of the article and that when it comes topost match quotes things get misconstrued or said in the heat of the moment.

    In the end we all shook hands and seemingly agree that this article is kinda bunk…We look forward to playing York next year and had good fun and banter this time round.

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